Romance, drama, intrigue and of course… murder! What else would you expect from a murder mystery dinner theatre experience? I had the opportunity to attend the advance screening of the Sir. John A. Mega-Park Murder Mystery last week. I had never been to a professional murder mystery before but Mr. Spot Mysteries did not disappoint. All the of the characters brought another level to the mystery; all of them had motive to commit the murder! I won’t spoil the ending for you – you’ll have to go out and see the performance for yourself.
As the audience arrived (or “potential investors” as we were dubbed by the actors) the actors mingled with the crowd and seated themselves with the patrons. This was their chance to set the stage – or rather restaurant as we were hosted by Aunt Lucy’s – and give hints about their characters stance on the building of a new theme park set to take over LeMoine Point. The evening was to be a pitch to the media and a chance for potential investors to take a cut of the theme park’s profit. The actor’s were great at ad-libbing conversations with the audience and setting the tone of the night.
We were served a prix-fixe meal with our choice of a main and dessert. Dinner started with an excellent caesar salad or seafood chowder. I had the caesar salad – it’s not too often that you find a caesar salad with real bacon, freshly grated parmesan and, to top it off, homemade croutons. For the next course I chose the chicken marsala. The sauce was perfectly balanced with red wine and mushrooms and went well with the mashed potatoes on the side. Dinner was concluded with a dessert of apple crisp or bread pudding.
During dessert all the characters mysteriously had to do something outside – when they returned one was missing. We soon found out the director of the theme park had been killed in the parking lot! As dessert progressed we heard more about the events leading up to the murder.
Some clues were so subtle I didn’t realize they were clues until we found out who the killer was!
The under-cover detective leading us on the trail of clues kept the audience roaring with laughter. The detective even incorporated a few audience members into the story of who killed the victim. A subtle – yet hilarious – French-Canadian assistant joined the detective on the hunt for the true killer.
After we had explored all the clues leading up to the murder we were given a chance to cast our ballot and decide, by democracy, who dunnit. Of course the detective didn’t really use our ballots to decide who the killer was but reading our ideas was a good source of entertainment for him. In the end I didn’t guess the true identity of the killer but, after hearing the conclusion, I have to say it can be done!
Mr. Spot Murder Mysteries are running the show every Friday and Saturday in August. The cocktail hour starts at 6:30pm at Aunt Lucy’s followed by dinner at 7:15pm. Be sure to bring your thinking cap and be ready to laugh!
