By Timothy Ruppert
As Robert Hockenberry asks in the “Director’s Note” for the Pittsburgh Savoyards’ world premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the Web of Deceit, “what can we do that isn’t a tired retread of what came before?” Perhaps this question may be addressed effectively with another: “What might take place when cold-blooded intellection clashes against a heartfelt mind?” Hockenberry’s adaptation, focusing principally on Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Final Problem,” pits the celebrated Sherlock Holmes (Frederick Coleman) against the inimical Professor James Moriarty (Sean Lenhart) in a high-stakes battle that proves a delight from first to last.
Sherlock Holmes and the Web of Deceit brings together elements of several Doyle narratives to create a veritable Bayeux Tapestry of Sherlockian lore. Whether one knows the Holmes canon more or less precisely, this show offers terrifically fun access to the story of Holmes’s grand efforts against Moriarty and his network of dangerous miscreants. Familiar characters who appear in this play include The Sign of Four’s Mary Marstan (Amanda Leigh), the much-admired Irene Adler (Jocelyn Hillen) of “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and Holmes’s irrepressible landlady, Mrs. Hudson (Janette Schafer).
While several superbly choreographed fight scenes externalize the ongoing conflict between Holmes and Moriarty, some of the play’s finest moments involve quieter expressions of tension between Holmes and Moriarty—a raised eyebrow, a furtive glance, a sharpened vocal inflection. We see this especially towards the close of Act One when Holmes and Moriarty first directly confront one another at 221B Baker Street, after which the game is truly afoot.
Several factors contribute successfully to fashioning the symmetry between all-out fisticuffs and more subtle combat, including exceptional costuming (Morgan Hunter and Gracelynn Jack) and props (Andrea Lisiak and Lara Rogers). With some patience, the audience is treated to beautifully evocative set designs (Robert Hockenberry). Put together, these elements render the late-Victorian ambiance quite nicely, in no small part thanks to Rogers, Gretchen Beck (stage manager), and Amanda Orr (stagehand).
As always, the Pittsburgh Savoyards ensemble captures the Victorian spirit in both its comedic and more somber aspects, eliciting laughs and gasps with impressive collaborative aplomb. Despite looking younger than the traditional Holmes portrayer, Coleman strikes an at-times breathtaking pose on a tightrope between high cognition and deep humaneness. As Moriarty, Lenhart chills the blood with a calm and patient psychopathy—wholly urbane and utterly without conscience. Other standouts from the opening-night cast include Todd Foose as the tirelessly faithful Dr. John Watson, Tamara Marlise Manzetti as the menacing Sabine Moran, and Hillen as the ever-mysterious Adler. Add a major shoutout to Emma Schmigel as Wiggins, the scene-stealing Baker Street Irregular.
Intricately allusive and charmingly novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Web of Deceit weaves a new web for old spiders. With a double cast of keenly talented performers divided into a “Gilbert” and a “Sullivan” cast performing in alternation, I recommend seeing this show twice. Audiences should note that, while the Holmes material is reimagined with loyalty to the source, this play does not make mention of Holmes’s more troubling habits and is a family-friendly and wholesome production (albeit with the use of fake firearms). Hurry, while the game is still afoot!
—TR
Sherlock Holmes and the Web of Deceit runs through July 26, 2026, in the heart of Bellevue at the Margaret Partee Performing Arts Center, 523 Lincoln Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15202. For tickets and more information, please click here.
A well-acted play, but way too self-indulgently long — a running time of more than two hours, 30 minutes. Some of the characters should have been eliminated and the dialogue pared.