Bride sellout at Spaghetti Mama's May 22, 2010

We had a fun "Godfather of the Bride" performance Saturday at Spaghetti Mama's at Jordan Commons in Sandy, Utah. First off, it was another sellout!
We had people from Rock Springs, Wyo.; Soda Springs, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nev.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; also from Springville, Ogden, West Point, Lehi, Brigham City, West Haven, Salt Lake, Taylorsville and West Valley, Utah.
We had two larger groups dress up in the Roarin' 20s attire, which we always encourage and which adds a lot to the show.
Julie Blatter, pictured top left, played Trixie Saturday night, and Emily Stevenson played Trixie the previous Saturday. Both are so good -- but different! On this last Saturday night, the audience loved Julie's opening number and really got the whole evening off to a great start! The audience was really in the mood to party!
We even made "The Nun Lady" happy: Acquired a new costume for Allen Smith so he didn't have to tie a black tablecloth around his body for the nun dress! We "misplaced" the previous dress but still have the cape and head costume piece.
While this cast, I and Jason Hunt were doing "Bride" Saturday night, our other cast was wrapping up a great week on the Mexican Riviera aboard Carnival's Splendor!
That will be the subject of our next post!
One of the guests, who happens to be a friend from the past who has done our shows, mentioned how superior the sound was Saturday night -- especially loved the microphones! We've come a long way, baby!
We'll be back at Spaghetti Mama's for another "Godfather of the Bride" on Saturday, June 5.

UTBA Review: "Godfather of the Bride"

‘Godfather of the Bride’ – a refreshing evening
Posted: 19 May 2010 07:42 AM PDT
Playing select nights through June and July, 2010.
Written by: Katie Roundy | May 19, 2010.

SANDY — Everybody loves a good mystery, especially when they have a chance to get in on the action and help crack the case. Throw in some music, dancing and Italian food and you are good to go. Hunt Mysteries delivers it all with their latest show, “Godfather of the Bride.”
Set in mafia-run Chicago, the mystery dinner takes place at the speakeasy of Chicago’s No. 1, Don Donatello Giovani, (a room above Spaghetti Mama’s in Jordan Commons).

When guests arrive at the wedding reception of Fingers Vinerelli, Chicago’s No. 2 man, and Bunny Beckenstein, a platinum dancer, they are in for a unique experience.

Far from the quiet role of a mere observer, you play a pertinent part in this performance. Right off the bat, you are thrown into the theater world. Before entering the ‘reception’ you must first obtain a password from Harry “The Lip” Smackerelli. After a trip through the wedding line and a quick order from the menu, the show begins.
Just like a real reception, the couple takes a moment to eat, mingle with the crowd and provide a bit of entertainment. There was singing, dancing and the traditional throwing of the bouquet. As part of the festivities, Fingers taught an Italian dance and invited audience members to dance along.

As cast members mingle they reveal more of their past and hint at their dark secrets. Near the end of the evening, the unthinkable happens and you are invited to help solve the mystery. This is not a casual night out, the murder mystery requires constant attention to pick up all the details for further investigation. You actually get a chance to grill the cast to weed out the murderer.

While the show was fun and fresh, it was also a bit confusing. This may have something to do with the fact that I have never seen “The Godfather” and therefore missed some of the parodies.
Instead of a traditional theater auditorium setting, the realistic setting of a wedding reception added to the ambience. There were moments when I honestly felt I was at a wedding reception, celebrating as a guest with the bride and groom.

With a mix of characters from different backgrounds, there were a wide variety of accents. Unfortunately the accents were a bit disappointing and somewhat sporadic. It seemed the cast was worried more about the way they said things than what was being said and as a result the performance fell flat. A little more practice and tweaking of the accents would prove a more authentic performance.

From where I was sitting the music was also a bit too loud. At times it was difficult to follow what was happening, as Italian music rang in my ears.
One of the highlights of the evening, besides dancing with the groom, was chatting with my new friends at our table. We got a chance to get to know each other while we threw around our suspicions.
While there were a few kinks in the performance, it was nothing a little tweaking couldn’t fix.

If you are looking to jazz things up and break away from the monotonous dinner-and-a-movie outing, this is the play for you. Just make sure you come prepared to “play” along.
Godfather of the Bride plays select nights through June and July. More information can be found at HuntMysteries.com.

Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper

Closing night for "Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper" was our opening night at Spaghetti Mama's on April 24, 2010. We had a sellout for the show and had a fun night!

Cast off to Mexican Riviera

Stayed up until 5 a.m. this morning putting all the packets together for the ongoing mystery for our Mexican Riviera Cruise. That one is done by the other guests going on the cruise with us. There will be things gong on once a day throughout the cruise -- fight scenes, crime scenes, etc.
Then I had to get back up at 6:30 a.m. to get the actors, plus Nancy, Nathan and Jared, on their way to L.A. for the cruise.
Cast is all pumped for the cruise and the two shows they'll be doing: "A Cruise to Remember: Mystery Afloat" and "Walking the Red Carpet: An Oscar Winning Confession.

The six actors are Tony Porter, Jeremy Hall, Mary Brassard, Tonia Sayer, Heidi Potter and Alisha Williams.
Next up is "Godfather of the Bride" tonight at 7 p.m. at Spaghetti Mama's with Bruce Craven, Emily Stevensen, Justice Jex, Allen Smith, Casey Wayman, Elise Groves and Nancy Candrian. Great cast! Still have about 20 tickets for tonight. Next Saturday, There are only 13 tickets available for May 22nd show already! Julie Blatter is doing Trixie next week. Gary Thompson may do Harry if Casey's wife, Melanie, goes into labor with her twins!
The cruise cast won't be back until Monday, Oct. 24.
Humm! I think I'll fly to Cancun! Yea, right!

Opening Night at Spaghetti Mama's in Sandy

On Saturday, April 24, 2010, Hunt Mysteries staged its first weekly comedy murder mystery performance at Spaghetti Mama's at Jordan Commons in Sandy, Utah.
We were pleasantly surprised over our sellout first night with "Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper," with Jeremy Jonsson as Col Dijon, Shea Potter as Mauve Green, Heidi Potter as Miss Rose Redd, Krystal Day as Miss Blanc, Tonia Sayer as Mrs. Peahen, Scott Thompson as Simon Lively and Chris Kucera as Professor Prune.
The cast did a great job in a different venue and with a different setup. There were a few bugs with the format, which we expect to smooth out for the next show, Friday, April 30th.
The manager of Spaghetti Mama's and The Mayan was very pleased with the turnout and with how the our first night went -- including the revenue.

The audience just loved the interaction with the actors -- especially Heidi's song numbers. Actually all the cast's song-and-dance numbers were terrific.
Nancy and I especially enjoyed the evening with my Uncle Clifford and his fiancee, Susan, who attended the dinner show. They didn't solve the mystery -- but they came close!
One of the guests brought her 10 year old son to the show as his birthday request. He had a great time interacting with the actors during the sleuthing. He didn't solve the mystery right, but I told him that the first one is always the hardest -- but now that he knows how everything goes, he'll do better next time.
We especially appreciated having Brittany Nielson as the head waitress at the show for Spaghetti Mama's because she's been in several of our shows. She understood what we were doing and was able to coordinate the food service.

Utah Theater Bloggers Association

"Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper" is well worth investigating
By Dave Mortensen, Utah Theater Bloggers Association : 2010-02-22

OGDEN — I’ve always been a little cautious of dinner theatre and didn’t know quite what to expect. Granted, I knew I wasn’t going to be snacking on a lamb shank while A Midsummer Night’s Dream played on a stage in front. What’s more is this promised to be a murder-mystery-musical dinner theatre performance. Simply put, I was more than pleasantly surprised by my night with Hunt Mysteries and I’m pretty sure you will be too.

Hunt Mysteries partners with several restaurants and venues across the valley (and beyond) to provide a nice sit-down meal with their show. So, my guest and I were seated at a table with another party of two. None of us had been to a Hunt show so we were all a little unfamiliar with how the night would go.

Turns out that the written script only fulfills about a third of the night’s performance. At 7 o’clock the actors filtered into the banquet room and slowly began to visit each table to introduce themselves (as their character) and get to know us. Immediately we were thrust into the roles of stockholders for Atlas Inc.—the invented company hosting the night’s dinner. A murder was going to happen later in the evening so we knew that we needed to find out all we could about the characters before it actually happened.

Admittedly, I was a little nervous about being put on the spot to converse with these characters. The first character to shake my hand was Col…I mean Captain Dijon (Jeremy Johnson). He was quite affable and made us feel a little more keen to the idea of getting involved in the game. Next came Professor Prune (Chris Kucera) who played a marvelous drunkard who suddenly became sober real quick when the murderous explanations were…explained later in the night. He was a lot of fun though. We asked him plenty of questions on his backstory and sure enough he had it down.

After the brief meet and greet, dinner was served and we were lucky enough to have two of the actors seated at our table. That was a delight as Rose Red (Heidi Potter) and Miss Blanc (Mary Brassard) garnished our dinner with pleasant conversation on whether or not our host Mr. Lively (Chris “Madman” Madriaga) should love a scarlet floozy or a sweet and pure work colleague—they apparently didn’t think the ex-wife Mrs. Peahen (Tonia Sayer) offered too much competition. Throw Mr. Greene (Shea Potter) into the mix with his fruity non sequiturs and I wasn’t sure who to follow in order to anticipate the prime suspects.

After dinner, someone died. No need to expand on that. Everyone knew it was coming.

The audience was encouraged to leave their tables and question characters in order to figure out who the murderer was. Our table stayed put but thanks to some sample interrogation questions left at the table we had a good idea of what happened. Sadly, I didn’t trust the most likely answer and instead accused an innocent character that completely lacked any motive. Yeah, that didn’t play out too well. Just remember, you really can figure out the murder. Hunt Mysteries isn’t out to trick you with a surprise ending. And I like that! We can trust their story and if you pay attention you’re bound to be playing the role of Sherlock Holmes and being eligible for a prize at the end of the show.

This is not Shaw, Moliere, or Agatha Christie. It’s not meant to be. Hunt Mysteries promises and delivers an enjoyable night at the theater. That’s exactly what it was. I completely trusted the world these actors presented to me. It was delightful when they broke out into a slightly tweaked version of “Money, Money, Money” from Mamma Mia! or “Love You I Do” from Dreamgirls. The music was hopping and I couldn’t help but smile and just enjoy being there. It was a party and I was invited. That sounds a little odd, but it’s true. My heart tells me I don’t like cheesy theatre, and this was not cheesy theatre. It was fun theatre (and the food was good too! The next time I’m in Ogden I’m definitely checking out their full menu).

Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper plays Saturday, March 13th at 6:30 PM in Boccia’s Pizza Bistro located at 1045 North Washington Blvd. in Ogden. Tickets are $34.95 and can be purchased by calling 801-569-1482 or HuntMysteries.com.

"Get a Clue: The $tocks Caper" -- Opening Weekend

"Get a Clue" cast opened its run Feb. 11th at a Baptist Church in Layton with about 150 in attendance, and then followed with a Friday dinner show with 70 guests and a Saturday show with 150 guests -- both at The Castle in Layton.
Chris "Madman" Madriaga did a great job first playing Col. Dijon Friday night and then Simon Lively Saturday night.
Shea Potter, playing the suave Mr. Mauve Green, did a great job of creating a fun entertaining character to match the British character Col. Dijon, played by Jeremy Jonsson and Madriaga. Heidi Potter as Rose Redd captured the audience with her singing, dancing and fun choreography. What a hoot seeing Jeremy doing that crazy song-and-dance routine with Heidi -- not to mention his great British character. Tonia shines as Mrs. Peahen and matches the strength of Simon Lively, played by Scott Andrew and Madriaga. Krystal Day does a great French maid, Miss Blanc, and shined in the spotlight for her song solo. Then there's Chris Kucera doing a fantastic job on his song/dance -- with the rest of the cast as backup dancers.
Alisha Williams did a great job as director and choreographer, and music director Anjentte Mickelsen really whipped the cast into shape. I loved the harmony in all the songs, and the opening number and reprise really tied the show together and had the audience members all but singing along at the end.
Next up is Boccias on Saturday, Feb. 20th, and then two college shows.