November 2011
Murder at Twilight
Don't look now but there's a vampire in your soup. The creative folks at Mysteriously Yours Mystery Dinner Theatre, have tuned in to the latest craze of vampire romance films and created a neat comedy called Murder at Twilight (A Vampire Murder Mystery). I won't say the comedy outshines the dinner (under the supervision of Chef Rossy Earle), because the dining at Mysteriously Yours has always been quality fare, but Murder at Twilight turns out to be one of their most delectable offerings thanks to some top notch performances by veteran Barb Scheffler and the cast.
Scheffler plays a vampire queen called Bella who has the air of Gloria Swanson and an undetectable accent that could be from Transylvania or North Bay. Bella, even at her ripe age of 300 years, is definitely one of the modern day vampires who along with old-school monsters and humans are getting along fine in the Deep South thanks to the invention of pure plasma, which means they don't have to go for anyone's neck anymore.
But, so the story goes, everyone is gathered at Merlotte's Bar to celebrate the birthday of Spooky Stakehouse (Kimberly Persona), Bon Bon Louisiana's favorite waitress. The VIP list includes her bro Jethro (Ian Ronningen), who is a real charmer if none too bright, Bill Compost (Ian Keeling), Doug Le Chien (Laurence Prance) and later on, Sheriff Van Helsing (Pierre Trudel). Before long, the murder of the unpopular Reverend Smalls of the Brotherhood of the Sun, who appears to have those tell tale holes in his neck, doesn't bode well for the reputation of the friendly vampires who don't do those kinds of things anymore, unless the person is already dead. "Dead men have the right kind of blood for a vampire," says Bella, "B Positive."
While you can't take Murder at Twilight seriously - after all it is a send-up - you have to applaud the clever writing by Barb Scheffler, Brian Caws and the cast, who make sure that there's lots of fun trying to explain the inbreeding of the vampires for 300 years, which makes Queen Bella the great, great, great Grandma of Reverend Smalls, while everyone else has some part in the food chain - if you can keep it straight. At any rate, there's lots of mileage in the joke and the cast takes full advantage of it, relatively speaking. All the more credit to Pierre Trudel as the Sheriff who keeps everything in good running order.
Since the audience is well prepped, just like the appetizers in the kitchen, they've already been acquainted with the players, who stroll around the dining room and have a chat with the members of the audience before dinner is served, while enlisting some of them to take part in the play itself.
Mysteriously Yours audience veterans know that while there is lots of relaxed repartee going on between the actors and the diners before the show, the show itself is tightly scripted and, once the clues are all in and the audience members have an opportunity to pick the murderer and turn in their votes, the climax is almost the best part. You have a chance to see who outsmarted you and won the Mysteriously Yours ball cap. P.S. I've never won, but I always return to the scene of the crime.
Murder at Twilight plays throughout the holidays and into the New Year. Performances every Friday and Saturday (and select Thursdays). Arrival for Dinner from 6:30pm; Show Time: 8:00pm. Tickets: Mysteriously Yours... (416) 486-7469 or boxoffice@mysteriouslyyours.com. 2026 Yonge Street, Toronto M4S 1Z9.
Photo: Barb Sheffler as Queen Bella.
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
April 2010
Dr. Jekyll, There's Nowhere to Hyde
Toronto's first rate Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre, never fails to entertain. About the only thing that has changed at the handsome mid-town Mysteriously Yours theatre is the menu. Producers Lili and Brian Caws have introduced a Dinner menu to its in-house kitchen run by Executive Chef, Evan Shessel, but the only thing that's different in that department are more simply prepared items with less of the French influence. The kitchen was working to capacity on opening night of Dr. Jekyll, There's Nowhere to Hyde, but the end result was food as good as it's ever been.
The same could be said of Dr. Jekyll, There's Nowhere to Hyde, a mystery evening with audience interaction that follows a tried and true formula - and succeeds very well. By the time dessert is served, the actors in costume are walking around the room to chat up the diners. There's also the chance that they'll be given an opportunity to say a few lines as part of the show. A star is born.
After the introductions, a twenty minute sketch lays it all out, incorporating the theme of the evening with a murder. The object is to listen well so you can remember the details when it comes time to write down the clues. Though that doesn't help everyone, there are people who are good at it and wind up winning the t- shirt the or baseball cap at the end of the evening. The entire show is brought to life by a core of talented performers who succeed in convincing you that its best to suspend any logic and just enjoy.
This evening we're taking in Mysteriously Yours' newest show, Dr. Jekyll, There's Nowhere to Hyde. Its setting is a Symposium for the Enlightenment of Criminal Sciences, with a quartet of famous guest researchers: Alexander Graham Bell, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Prof. Jan Jansky and Dr. Sigmund Freud. Guess which one doesn't belong with the others. The host for the conference is Madame Marie Curie. The victim is the renowned anchor from CNN (that's Criminal News Network), Anderson Scooper who is married to Madame Curie. If you believe that, you'll believe anything.
The one liners come fast and furious. "Tell everyone what school we attended." Answer: "Elementary." From Dr. Freud comes this gem: "These are my test subjects. I call them my testes. One is bigger than the other." Alexander Graham Bell to his assistant Ivy League: "Ivy, you belong with Bell, We're sympatico." And finally, Bell on introducing his new invention: "In Quebec we call it the francophone."
By the time Dr. Jekyll begins his investigation, things get serious. You comb for clues, your eye on the grand prize awaiting the person who solves the crime, and matches his clues to the killer.
Written by Brian Caws, [with the cast], Dr. Jekyll, There's Nowhere to Hyde, features Mysteriously Yours veterans like Jean Daigle, Laurence Prance and Ken MacDougall, along with newcomers Debbie Collins, Adam Bradley and Kimberly Persona, most of whom play more than one character in the show, or one character with a lot of anxiety. And then there was the show stopper when Dr. Jekyll drinks a potion and begins to turn into the evil Hyde. The theatre is donating a portion of tickets sales to the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario. Plays every Friday and Saturday and select Thursdays at the Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre. 2026 Yonge Street, Toronto. Call for details and to purchase tickets: 416-486-7469 or 1-800-NOT-DEAD (668-3323) or purchase tickets online at: TicketWeb.ca. or www.MysteriouslyYours.com
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
Photo: by Brian Caws.
March 2005
CSI: Baker Street
Imagine Sherlock Holmes solving his cases with a test tube, cotton swab and flashlight. But no, this latest version of the excellent Mysteriously Yours dinner theatre presentations only pays lip service to the blood and gore CSI of television fame. It's a clever title alright but never fear, we're right back in the 19th century with Holmes, Watson and the mysterious and beautiful lady who once knew Holmes back when, and so on. As far as solving cases, forget the camera zoom in on the intestines a la Virgil Grissom and the gang. Our Sherlock Holmes uses the deductive approach to get to the bottom of things, setting up the mystery, a little questioning of the suspects, a lot of audience involvement, and first thing you know, the game is afoot.
The plot is of course outrageous. Dr. Watson has written a tell-all book ... which is about to published by the American entrepreneur Harper Collier. But before you can turn a page, Collier is killed and the whoodunnit takes on larger proportions.This takes place after dinner. [During] dinner, the cast visits the tables and we get a good chance to look them over and chat them up. Barbara Scheffler's twittery Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock's housekeeper, has the best time, especially later on when her tippling gets the best of her. Dr. Watson [is] played with a stiff upper lip by Blaine Parker. But there's also the outlandish German doctor played by an invincible Scotty Watson, the friendly copper played by Mysteriously Yours veteran Laurence Prance, Anne Marie Shefler's glamorous Irene Adler, once upon a time a confidence women but now reformed.
As for Harper Collier, played by director and co-writer Jean Daigle, he's bumped off none to soon as his booming Texas accent is a little hard to take. Besides, he's scheduled for a quick costume change and a return visit as Sherlock Holmes. It's in this role as the investigator extraordinaire that Daigle shines. His gift of comic timing is a mainstay of the company and the interplay he has with audience members is not only funny it's completely spontaneous. Example: "Kay is a school teacher." "What kind?" "Elementary my dear Watson."
Mysteriously Yours, which occupies the site of the old Limelight Theatre at Yonge and Davisville area, has a lovely night club setting circa 1920's and a fine first class menu by chef Av Atikian. Running about three hours if you get to dinner on time at 6:30pm, the few hours go quickly but then time flies when you're having fun. Produced by Lili Caws and Brian Caws, who has co-written CSI: Baker Street along with Daigle, Scotty Watson and the cast, Mysteriously Yours has outlived many another mystery dinner theatre in Toronto, and once you've experienced it, you'll know why. It's a class act.
CSI: Baker Street plays at the Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre for an open-ended engagement. 2026 Yonge Street. 416-486-7469. 1-800-NOT-DEAD (668-3323.)
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
Photo: Scotty Watson as Dr. Jerry Brookheimer in CSI:Baker Street
November 2003
GodFather Knows Best!
Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre is a veteran of the Greater Toronto Area restaurant theatre circuit, only second in longevity to Stage West whose Mississauga based productions are legit stage dramas, comedies and musicals that have premiered and played elsewhere. Mysteriously Yours, with its focus strictly on murder mysteries created in house, accompanied by audience interaction, a more than pleasant environment and a quite fine three course dinner supervised by its own executive chef, is a first class affair. Readers can take this imprimatur from a reviewer who has been following the small world of murder mystery evenings for the last 25 years or more in every kind of venue from church basements to Lake Ontario pleasure boats. I might add that the latter does nothing for the digestion.
Fans of Mysteriously Yours will be happy to know that its latest offering, "Godfather Knows Best," continues its tradition of top flight entertainment done to a turn by a capable cast and a script that sometimes suspends logic but never the laughs.
A take-off on the film classic The Godfather, the show gives the performers a chance to burlesque the revamped Corleone family, here called Provolone, with gusto. The audience is as important an ingredient as the chef's presentation of his Amaretto and fig cheesecake and become part and parcel of the Don's extended family by taking roles in the play acting. Since our Don in the show (Blaine Parker), giving a riotous Marlon Brando squirrel cheek impersonation, makes his income by cheese and not olive oil, there's a lot of lactose oriented humor. The laughs are non-stop beginning with the Don's wacky sons and put-upon daughter: tough guy Sonny (Laurence Prance) sporting a simulated New Jersey accent and natty suspenders over his undershirt, just like in the movies; dimwitted Frodo (Prance again), who carries the family business forward by dressing up as a tangerine colored rodent and singing the Chucky Cheese song like a Disney Mousketeer; and tough cookie Connie (Liz Gilroy), who would really like to take over the family business and wear the pants even if she does dress like a 1950's prom queen.
Though we don't meet the incumbent Don, Michael Provolone, until the end of the show, we get a good dose of his cream cheese fiancee, pink taffeta princess Kay Mart (Birgitte Solem), who has been frantically planning her wedding with Michael even though she hasn't seen him in two years, and the Don's number one henchman, adopted son Tom (Brian Smith) who hasn't managed to lose his Irish accent.
When Sonny is bumped off at the start of the show, it gives our man with the badge, here Jean Daigle in a now familiar role as a wisecracking gumshoe, centre stage. Daigle, who has co-written the script and is a veteran of Mysteriously Yours, gives one of the best impersonations of Peter Falk's Lieutenant Colombo, that I've seen. Rumpled raincoat, omnipresent stogie and fly away hair, Daigle also throws in some delicious ad libs as he works the room and interrogates the suspects, which in true Poirot style, (another detective hero he's conquered in previous shows,) includes everyone in the cast.
Local humor may stump anyone not familiar with Toronto's dispersed Italian community. Michael Provolone, for instance, has been in the Old Country for the past two years which turns out to be Woodbridge, Ontario. Okay, I warned you. But anyone who has seen The Godfather trilogy will understand the expediency of doing away with dumb cluck Frodo. "He's sleeping with the fishes," says Tom, throwing in a bit of Mafioso metaphor referring to Frodo's unintentional demise. "I knew he was odd," says his father, the Don, "But that's sick."
The audience, who is called upon to collect clues and vote for the person whom they think is the killer, supplies its own inimitable humor which is sometimes as funny as the script. But that's the beauty of Mysteriously Yours. In the end, we're not only voyeurs and gourmands, but super sleuths and rising stars as well. In the valley of the clueless, the ridiculous reigns.
GodFather Knows Best! plays until Jan. 2004 at the Mysteriously Yours Dinner Theatre. 2026 Yonge St. 1-800-668-3323.
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
Photo: Blaine Parker as Don Provolone.
August 2001
Murder In Casablanca!
Don't get too excited. This is not a musical version of the Bogart/Bergman flick that titillated a million movie-goers. This may be the Casablanca where human life is cheap and mystery and intrigue are a way of life, but it's really Rick's Cafe Canadien on Yonge St. Toronto (Mysteriously Yours... Mystery Dinner Theatre), where intrigue is served as an appetizer and murder is committed after dinner so as not to disturb the enjoyment of chef Don Shell's great gourmet meal.
This Casablanca is the embarkation point to Canada, so the versatile company of actors keep telling us, which is why there is so much anxiety to escape and get to that frozen northland. They don't tell us why, however. It's Captain Renault who instructs us to meet him in the alley at 11 p.m. with 150,000 French francs or 10 U.S. dollars and he'll guarantee us safe passage to Mississauga. But before that happens Captain Renault is murdered, which is the cue for Rick himself to start the investigation by cross examining the suspects - the entire cast of characters - because in the end it will be up to us in the audience to pinpoint the killer. We rely on a storehouse of clues we've been accumulating through the evening, dutifully writing them down on a sheet of paper handed out to us by the waiters. The winners will get a free passage back to the dinner theatre for another show or maybe a T Shirt.
Mysteriously Yours shows roughly follow the same format show after show, though the mystery themes change. The killer does as well, so whom we choose one evening as the culprit may turn out to be an innocent victim of duplicity tomorrow night. We have a lot of help. The performers come around to the tables in character before dinner starts to begin planting some well rehearsed clues. Rick himself, here the stalwart Jean Daigle, who is always the star of the show as the investigator - Hercule Poirot is my favorite - in this case, Rick the owner of the infamous Cafe Canadien. Daigle doesn't look a bit like Humphrey Bogart even with a flat American accent, but he's funnier and as smooth as the Passion Fruit Mousse that the Chef has whipped up.
The shows all adhere somewhat to the original cast of characters we saw in the film version, though the names, which have the odd connotation of car manufacturers, have been ingeniously altered. Here, Brian Smith plays Victor Volvo, the ever-so-understanding patriot waiting for his letters of transit (Paul Henreid in the film) and his wife is Ilsa Lund-Rover (Brigitte Solem). Get it? The smoky femme fatale hanging around Rick's joint is Mercedes (Barb Scheffler) while Blaine Parker is Signor Ferrari. Most of the performers are capable veterans of past Mysteriously Yours shows and handle the satire with ease.
As the droning of the plane gets louder with Victor and Ilsa aboard en route to Mississagua via Newfoundland, it's our cue to start choosing who dunnit. I've never won despite all those British mysteries I'm particularly fond of, but I figure that I'm miles ahead anyway with a good dinner and some cheeky humor. It all suits a rare, carefree evening where mystery and intrigue are served up in fine style.
Casablanca plays at Mysteriously Yours...Mystery Dinner Theatre for an indefinite run. 2026 Yonge St. 416-486-7469.
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
Photo: Birgitte Solem as Ilsa Lund-Rover
