WASHINGTON — It won five Tony Awards last year, including “Best Play.”
Now, the Kennedy Center welcomes “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” on Oct. 5-23, exploring the mysterious death of a neighborhood dog, sparking an investigation by a young boy.
“It creates for a really unique night in the theater,” actress Maria Elena Ramirez told WTOP.
While “Fun Home” won Best New Musical at the 2015 Tonys, “Curious Incident” dominated the nonmusical side with five wins: Best Play, Best Director (Marianne Elliott), Best Actor (Alex Sharp), Best Lighting Design (Paule Constable) and Best Scenic Design (Bunny Christie and Finn Ross), as well as an additional sixth nomination for Best Choreography (Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett).
Ramirez says she saw “Curious Incident” on Broadway and hoped she’d one day join the cast.
“I was totally blown away by the show,” Ramirez said. “I was hoping I would get a chance! … I saw it and I thought, ‘That role would be perfect for me.’ So this opportunity came up and I snatched it.”
Based on the 2003 novel by Mark Haddon, it’s adapted for the stage by playwright Simon Stephens.
“It’s a really fun read,” Ramirez said. “Our playwright has taken some sections out [verbatim], so you’ll get a transfer of the actual writing from the book. The playwright and the author of the book are actually good friends. Some of the work in the book really reads like poetry, so it was really easy for the playwright to transfer some of those sections and put them in the play. They’re very beautiful.”
The entire story is told from the unique eyes of Christopher Boone, who is on the autism spectrum.
“It’s written sort of like a journal by our main character,” Ramirez said. “So you get a little insight into his daily life and how he thinks. … We like to focus on the fact that Christopher sees the world differently than anybody else, and it’s amazing. The whole play is seen through his eyes, so you really get some insight into how he experiences the world: through movement, through sound, through our amazing set. It really gives you a real look into his world and how he sees it and deals with it.”
In the book, the chapter numbers are all labeled with prime numbers, which is mimicked on stage.
“He’s an amazing mathematician, so much of the world, he sees it very precisely in math,” Ramirez said. “You’ll see the set is on a grid. The chapters are prime numbers. He loves numbers, loves math.”
The role of young Christopher is played by child star Adam Langdon, a 2015 graduate of The Julliard School of Drama. He shares the role with understudy Ben Wheelwright from the Broadway show.
“They share the role because it’s a very physically and emotionally demanding role,” Ramirez said. “They’re both wonderful actors and people and really bring a lot of beautiful work to the show.”
While the play features a child star, there is a suggested audience age limit due to the heavy themes.
“We don’t leave a lot to the imagination,” Ramirez warned parents. “If people are wondering about what ages are appropriate, I would say teens [and above]. This is not a show for children. … It does start off with a murder mystery and a young boy wanting to find out who murdered basically his best friend. But in that investigation, he starts to find out things about himself and about his family.”
Don’t worry, no real dogs were harmed in the making of this play.
“We treat our fake dogs very well,” Ramirez said. “It’s a very pet-friendly show.”
As for Ramirez, she plays Christopher’s trusty schoolteacher Siobhan.
“They have a really great relationship in that she really understands some of the challenges he faces and is able to communicate with him in a way that he understands and appreciates. I think they have a real respect for each other. He sometimes invokes her in his times of need, and she sort of appears to help him out. It’s a relationship built on trust and respect, and I think it’s a really fun role to play.”
Ramirez is a true stage pro, including national tours like “War Horse” and Broadway musicals like “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” (2010), redefining President Andrew Jackson as an Emo rock star.
“It was a precursor to ‘Hamilton,'” Ramirez joked. “It started at the Public [Theater] where ‘Hamilton’ started. … It was sort of a combination of ‘Saturday Night Live’ meets ‘Schoolhouse Rock.’ … It was wacky and fun and became a real cult hit downtown. … Then we moved it uptown to Broadway.”
Most recently, she played a nurse in Larry David’s “Fish in the Dark” (2015).
“We had a lot of fun on that show,” Ramirez said. “Larry had never done a Broadway show before. He had written it, so during the show he was rewriting every night and just jumping into this world of being in a play. It was really wonderful to see him [working]. He’s a really hard worker. He would go home every night and do rewrites and come in and just be game for anything, really. We also had amazing people in the show. And it ended up just being almost a year of laughs and fun.”
While David left TV to master a new domain in Broadway, Ramirez has experience in both mediums. In fact, she played a bit part in the “Members Only” episode of HBO’s “The Sopranos” (1999-2007).
“I don’t know if anybody will remember this, but I played Uncle Junior’s neighbor when he was pretending to have dementia, and he came over to ask for some sort of ice cream,” Ramirez said. “It was nuts. I was just excited to be a part of that whole [show]. Now I can say [I was in ‘Sopranos!’]”
Her film credits also include “St. Vincent” (2014), playing the nanny who replaces Bill Murray.
“I always end up getting these great roles with amazing people like … Bill Murray!”
While Murray comes to the Kennedy Center to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 23, Ramirez beats him to the punch with “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.”
“People always have an aversion to so-called straight plays [that aren’t musicals],” Ramirez said. “Not only is this a really special and important story to tell, it’s done in a way that I don’t think any other show has been done before. The combination of our technological design, set design, the movement we’ve incorporated … just makes for a really unique night in the theater. It’s a really touching story.”
Click here for ticket information. Listen to the full conversation with Maria Elena Ramirez below:
