The only reason I mentioned CRUCIFER OF BLOOD is because it was my swansong as an actor. I was cast in the LA version which starred Charlton Heston as Holmes and Jeremy Brett as Watson (and he was just as brilliant as Watson as he was Holmes). I was told I was the first actor to break the open call at the Ahmanson and be cast through an open Equity cattle call. That was largely, thanks to Paul Giovanni, the author and director of the play, who told me, "Of the three hundred people you see at an open call and of the eighty you cal back, maybe only a dozen or so have any real talent and I want you to know you're one of those and I'm going to do everything I can to get you in this show." True to his word, he did. I played Mordecai Smith who has a lovely scene with Holmes and Watson at the end of the play and I understudied several other roles. Though we had a loinclothed Andman Islander on stage at one point, there was no nudity that I recall in the production. But there was damned effective lightning through the auspices of Bran Ferren, I believe his name was, special effects genius and John Hersey, the lighting director...both big names, I believe, in technical theatre.
After this auspicious LA debut, I started making too much money as a screenwriter and acting took a back seat, though I've never officially retired.
Paul Giovanni is the one to whom Peter Shaffer dedicated EQUUS...His other Shaffer connection...He composed the music for THE WICKER MAN (another good mystery) and can be seen in several shots playing and singing the songs in the movie. I believe Paul passed away of AIDS.
And speaking of Shaffer, isn't MURDERER the play that opens with someone dismembering a body onstage? I've always wanted to see the play staged.
Has anyone read any of the Shaffer brothers mystery collaborations under the name of Peter Antony? I have one How Doth The Little Crocodile which I remember as entertaining...