Ken Ludwig's Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

The Philadelphia Theatre Company follows up its strong season debut with a production of Ken Ludwig's "Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery," a retelling of the famous Sherlock tale, "The Hounds of Baskerville."

The play seeks to both embrace the iconic story line as well to poke fun at the histrionics of it through almost Monty Python level shenanigans. Unfortunately the production as a whole fails to reach the heights required to be included in the ever expanding Sherlock Holmes iconography.

"Baskerville" is a perfectly serviceable production, filled with a clever dialogue, belief defying costume changes, and a dynamic set that serves as the MVP of the play itself. In fact, with a different subject matter it could have become a triumph of creativity. The unfortunate uphill battle that this play faces is its choice of a character and story line that has been told through so many lenses and genres that nearly everything felt rehashed, and without as many successes.

The humor did not live up to its penny dreadful mocking dramatics, partly because it was actually not dramatic enough to laugh along with the actors and partly because all of the winks at the audience about Sherlock's proclivities or the oddities of the case's characters have been accentuated in recent television shows. Of course in some ways art should be pitted against one another, but when in the realm of mockery and a fourth wall-breaking play, the context of the original source material becomes impossible to avoid.

All of this is not to say there were not moments of hilarity, and the actors truly work impossibly hard to seamlessly play multiple characters and to successfully interact with the moving, gyrating set. Henry Clarke as Dr. Watson in particular was a terrific foil to the general zaniness of the rest of the cast, and his general mix of gullibility and canniness was an important place to ground the show.

When all was said and done, "Baskerville" was a pleasant night of theater with a stunning set, some laughs, and a group of strong actors pulling off difficult feats. What it was not was a season essential for anyone other than theater or Sherlock enthusiasts.

"Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery" runs through Dec. 27 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad Street. For tickets or information, call 215-985-0420 or visit www.http://philadelphiatheatrecompany.org.