Rehearsal for Murder, now onstage at the Lancaster Opera House, began its life as a made-for-TV movie in 1982 starring Robert Preston, Lynn Redgrave, and a cast of very familiar TV and movie faces. It was later adapted for the stage and it’s an entertaining and suspenseful story with its share of surprises.

In the grand tradition of mysteries like Deathrap and Sleuth, it’s the character interaction and their measured and calculating moves and missteps that create the tension.  This production is well done, smart, and engaging.

The story takes you backstage of a new play on opening night. Playwright Alex Dennison (Jon May) is calming his fiancé Monica Wells’ (Lauren Teller) jitters. She transitioning from film to stage and the happy couple will be secretly married the next day….except the local gossip columnist has leaked the news. As the cast gathers at her apartment after the show, the reviews start trickling in and it’s not all good news. The guests go home…and somehow Monica is dead. Fast forward a year, and the playwright assembles the cast again in the same theatre to re-open his own version of the investigation.

And now the fun begins.

May does a spectacular job as Alex in a very demanding role. He’s at the center of the story as he recounts the twists and turns of events, and he manages this with an understated authority. Teller is charmingly ditzy in her opening scene and slides into the elegant leading lady role smoothly. The rest of the cast (in the cast) embrace their roles well enough: Gabrielle Nunzio as understudy Karen; Caitlin Baeumler Coleman as the show’s producer; McCall Logan as actor Leo Gibbs; and Christian Hines as the enigmatic David Matthews. Alyssa Grace Adams did a fine job as Sally,  the wide-eyed Maine girl in the big city for the first time.  The night I saw the show, Jason Francey was Lloyd, the role he usually understudies, and real-life director Nathan Andrew Miller slid into the three minor roles Francey usually occupies. In fact, during the bows, Miller takes a moment to thank his cast for their diligence in learning multiple roles and how they need to be ready to pivot as needed. This was a nice reminder that our local actors work hard for their roles, no matter how large or small, and they take craft seriously. Bravo.

The opera house stage was well suited for this production, and Miller used the whole house well as actors entered from the stage entrances and the house doors, too. There were a few continuity and lighting glitches that I’m sure will be corrected. It was part of the fun to notice the old style desk without a computer (or computer desk styling), the lack of cell phones, no mentions of DNA testing or other trappings from that far-away time called the 1980s. Ah, the good ol’ days when we had to rely on deductive reasoning, thoughtfulness, and the gift of time to left ideas settles and give killers space to reveal themselves.

This show is time well spent (just under two hours with a 15-minute intermission), running to February 11. Visit lancasteropera.org for tickets and details.