Photo Flash: Toby Miller, Jim Shine, David Thornton & Laura Cable in Sierra Rep's THE 39 STEPS

Beautiful spies, cloaks and daggers, speeding trains and a mystery man with a missing pinky. Those ingredients whirl into one wild adventure in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, Broadway's hilarious, high-speed thriller sure to keep audiences on The Edge of their seats. The Tony Award-winning comedy plays at Sierra Repertory Theatre's East Sonora stage now through July 1.

An amazing cast of four actors play dozens of different characters in this ingenious adaptation of Hitchcock's classic spy movie about a mild-mannered hero plunged into a maze of murder, romance and intrigue. It's a fast and frothy whodunit that celebrates the magic of theater.

The story opens in pre-war London, when bored bachelor Richard Hannay wanders out for an evening at the music hall and finds himself suddenly entangled with a mysterious young woman with a desperate secret that could decide the fate of Europe. When she's murdered in his apartment, he's yanked into her world of spies and double agents, falsely accused and chased across Britain as he tries to clear his name and save his country from a sinister plot.

Sierra Rep Producing Director Dennis Jones directs the show and design the inventive set, which keeps the action racing from downtown London, over the countryside, across the Scottish moors and back again. Jones has a team of experienced actors that includes New Yorker Toby Miller as the dashing hero, and comedians Jim Shine, David Thornton and Laura Cable as multi-character players. Thornton, Miller and Cable are new to Sierra Rep, and Shine just appeared in a host of roles in SRT's production of Gypsy.

Jones is working with guest lighting designer Christopher Littman and guest costume designer Scott Anderson. Littman worked with Jones to design lights for last season's production of The Rainmaker and will be helping to set the mood and shift the action in 20 different localeS. Anderson, a Pennsylvania artist, will be working with SRT's costume staff to come up with dozens of quick-changes for '30s era characters, from farmers and frumpy innkeepers to British detectives and assorted German spies.

Also on the production team are SRT resident props master Mercy DeHerrera, sound designer and engineer Ty Smith, and resident stage manager Tara Cookson.

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps plays through July 1 at SRT's East Sonora Theatre. Ticket prices range from $24 to $30 depending on the day of the performance. For more information or reservations, visit Sierra Rep at www.sierrarep.org.

Photo credit: Rich Miller Photography