The 39 Steps

Barring the Monsterpiece Theater segment “The 39 Stairs” (starring Cookie Monster and Grover in an educational film noir), Patrick Barlow’s Tony-winning melodrama is the wackiest incarnation of John Buchan’s 1915 espionage novel The 39 Steps. Using Alfred Hitchcock’s film as a template, Barlow’s play follows Buchan’s recurring protagonist Richard Hannay on an epic journey sparked by Annabella Schmidt, a spy who’s uncovered a plot to steal British military secrets. Employing four actors who manically change wigs, accents, and costumes to portray 150 characters — secret agents and traveling lingerie salesmen among them — Barlow’s farce flies by at a frantic pace but still finds time to reference Hitch’s oeuvre via crop dusters, birds, and a hotel sign that reads, “Dial M for meal service.”