The confusion in Nevada Conservatory's thriller "Wait Until Dark" begins early.

The show starts with Robert Daymond Howard as Mike bouncing up a stairway with such a dainty, dramatic flourish that you assume he's playing a ballet dancer, or maybe Peter Pan. When he talks, it's with such exaggerated emphasis that you think, maybe he's supposed to be a soap opera star. But, no, you soon find out he's playing an ordinary guy, one of the bad ones, and all those overscaled movements are simply Howard's idea of how an actor is supposed to walk and talk.

Then we meet Steven Fehr as Sgt. Carlino. His fake New York accent is so pronounced and comical that it's only natural to think he's a joke left over from some other production.

Then we meet Sean Boyd as Harry. He's the really bad guy. We know because he refuses to take off his dark glasses indoors. But he seems as threatening as the postman on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

Frederick Knott's 1966 Broadway thriller is about a blind woman who doesn't realize she has a heroin-filled doll in her Greenwich Village basement apartment. The bad guys find out and they spend the length of the play trying to get it.

Unfortunately, director Glenn Casale doesn't set the proper menacing tone. By the time we meet the lead character, Suzy (Samantha Kristine Roy), we're not predisposed to care about her. And Roy doesn't help much. She's bland in the first act, and annoying in the second, when she starts to scream a lot. You keep hoping the killer will either leave or hurry up and do her in -- anything to keep her quiet.

Joe Wheeler provides genuine warmth in the brief role as the blind woman's husband, and Shannon Elizabeth Henley is a delicious scene stealer as Suzy's 9-year-old helper, Gloria. The character is alternately bratty and caring, and Henley communicates both qualities with equal skill.

Casale's timing is off much of the evening. Horrific bits like the killer's pouring gasoline throughout the apartment, and his coming back to life just when we think he's dead, have no oomph because they're alternately seconds too quick or too slow and fail to carry the proper emphasis.

John Iacovelli's appealing set is attractive in a sparse, slightly run-down sort of way; very Village-ish. Casale's use of Vance McKenzie's lighting goes a long way in creating some fun late in the second act when the evil deeds run rampant. The less we see the more suspenseful and giddy the play becomes.

But this is by far NTC's worst production of the season. Good luck staying awake.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.