A mistress of shivers plunges into Guthrie’s ‘Dial M for Murder’

Theatrical murder has a special allure for director Tracy Brigden.

Not the parts about blood splattering or lives being lost. She likes to get into the psychology of killers, and to have her spine tingle when she hears blood-curdling screams.

“I grew up on Hitchcock,” Brigden said. “I love the thrill of it.”

She will share her passion for murder-mysteries with Minnesotans starting Friday when her staging of “Dial M for Murder” opens at the Guthrie Theater. The first show since she joined the Guthrie as senior artistic producer in November 2022, “Dial M” serves as a kind of get-to-know-you party for Brigden.

“Tracy is the perfect person to stage what is the perfect thriller,” said Guthrie artistic director Joseph Haj, nodding to her intelligence and her experience.

Brigden comes to the Twin Cities after a career that has taken her from her native New York to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Illinois and other stops across the nation. In addition to her proclivities for mysteries, honed watching them on after-school TV, she also has a knack for developing new work, including by the likes of Keith Redden and Theresa Rebeck.

Brigden spent 16 years as artistic director of Pittsburgh’s City Theatre, where she worked on multiple shows with Excelsior-based playwright Jeffrey Hatcher. The two reunite for “Dial M,” which Hatcher first adapted from Frederick Knott’s script in 2022 for San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre.

“This is a chestnut but it has been given a new, exciting adaptation by a living playwright,” Brigden said.

“Dial M” premiered as a radio play in 1952 before Hitchcock made it into a London-set 1954 film headlined by Grace Kelly as Margot Wendice and Ray Milland as her husband, Tony. Kelly depicted a married socialite who is having an affair with American writer Mark Halliday. Fearing that his wealthy wife will divorce him and take all her money with her, Tony hatches what he thinks is the perfect murder-for-hire.

With the permission of Knott’s estate, Hatcher has updated the show, sharpening plot twists and changing the gender of a character. That gives “Dial M” a thoroughly modern feel in a slot on the Guthrie calendar that may become a trend. The company known for its annual summer musicals is now creating a regular winter habit for mystery-thrillers. A year ago it staged Ken Ludwig’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”

Brigden was instrumental in both choices and is keen to note the distinction between a thriller like “Dial M” and a mystery like “Orient Express.”

“In a murder-mystery, both audience members and characters find out at the same time whodunit,” Brigden said. “But in a thriller, we see the crime and know the story ahead of time. The question is, will he get away with it.”

Another distinction between the two is tonal. “Orient Express” is a murder-mystery comedy. And while there are some witticisms in “Dial M,” the pitch is less flippant.

Brigden grew up in New York immersed in the cultural riches of the Big Apple. She attended museums, shows and concerts in a cultural diet that she thought was normal for everyone. But when she started traveling, including to Evanston, Ill., where she attended Northwestern University, she saw things differently.

She expanded her appreciation, finding great culture in the hinterlands. The Guthrie is proof.

“Audiences here are passionate and intelligent,” she said.

Directing at the Guthrie feels like the fulfillment of a calling she first found when she was 13. That’s when she auditioned for a school play and the director gave her a choice.

“Play a leper or sit with me on the other side of the table,” Brigden recalled. “I’ve been on the other side of the table ever since and never looked back.”

‘Dial M for Murder’

Who: Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher. Directed by Tracy Brigden.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tue.-Sat., 1 & 7 p.m. Sun. Ends Feb. 25.

Where: Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Mpls.

Tickets: $29-$82. 612-377-2224 or guthrietheater.org.