Agatha Christie's masterful murder mystery "The Mousetrap" lands at the Hanna.

In this age of speed-of-light communication, it is unheard of that a play like "The Mousetrap" still can be a source of utter and total surprise. Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery play, you see, has been running non-stop in London's West End since 1952. At 60 years old, it is the longest running play of all time.

The main reason that theatergoers arrive blind as mice is the show's relatively limited reach. While this killer whodunit has been performed literally tens of thousands of times, almost all of those performances have been limited to London. There have been no film adaptations allowed and only a handful of theatre companies around the world have been granted permission to produce it. Also, audience members are sworn not to reveal the play's twisted end.

So, how fortunate we Clevelanders are that Great Lakes Theater will premier the "ultimate murder mystery masterpiece" in the freshly rebuilt Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare. The play, with multiple performances, runs from March 9 through March 25.

"All I previously knew of Christie’s play before beginning my work was its astonishing performance history and the legendary contract of secrecy forged between its performers and audience," says Drew Barr, who is directing the Cleveland production. "As far as I was concerned, "The Mousetrap" epitomized theater for theater’s sake. It existed in an essentially timeless world where rooms have three walls and murder is a nasty business that happens in the dark."

One of the five original PlayhouseSquare theatres, the Hanna Theatre originally opened in 1921. A recent $15 million renovation transformed the traditional Broadway-style theatre into a "first-rate performance space with terrific sightlines, comfortable seats and technical gizmos like the hydraulic lift," says the Plain Dealer's Steven Litt.

For ticket info, click here.