Elyot

I mean the tele-movie used all the names of Christie's characters, but somebody, and I'm looking at you screenwriter Kevin Elyot, had the gall to change everything else.

Are You Kidding Me? | The Stiletto Gang The Stiletto Gang 2008

While Kim Cattrall is the big star of this production, it's her counterpart Paul Gross who really steals the spotlight as the lead male, Elyot.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011

Their ages show more when it's just the two of them in the room, without Elyot's young wife to make him seem young at heart, and without Amanda's older-looking husband to make her appear youthful.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011

But when Amanda and Elyot are left to themselves to rekindle their affair, the play drags a bit.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011

Their ages show more when it's just the two of them in the room, without Elyot's young wife to make him seem young at heart, and without Amanda's older-looking husband to make her appear youthful.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011

Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman -- last stateside as perhaps the hottest Amanda and Elyot ever in Private Lives and before that as another pair of saturnine lovers in Les Liaisons Dangereuses -- also have their moments, as does Belton portraying a snake-eyed, quick-tongued Mrs. Wilton.

David Finkle: First Nighter: Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman Unleashes Acting Blizzard David Finkle 2011

The village had been the home of Eliot's forebears, and it was from here that his ancestor, the Reverend Andrew Elyot, set out for a new life in America in 1669.

Roger Housden: T.S. Eliot's Village Bares Its Teeth Roger Housden 2011

While Kim Cattrall is the big star of this production, it's her counterpart Paul Gross who really steals the spotlight as the lead male, Elyot.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011

Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman -- last stateside as perhaps the hottest Amanda and Elyot ever in Private Lives and before that as another pair of saturnine lovers in Les Liaisons Dangereuses -- also have their moments, as does Belton portraying a snake-eyed, quick-tongued Mrs. Wilton.

David Finkle: First Nighter: Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman Unleashes Acting Blizzard David Finkle 2011

Through that lens, it's hard to justify Elyot's and Amanda's behavior.

Danny Groner: Private Lives: A Bittersweet Honeymoon Danny Groner 2011