I went to my first high school reunion last weekend. No, not my actual high school reunion (I was a nerd with few friends, no need to revisit that), but something much better - an immersive comedy murder-mystery dinner-theater reunion! At
Alma Murder (
now playing in the downstairs ballroom at Sheraton Bloomington), you're greeted by the principal and secretary of Mellencamp High School as if they know you. You're asked to fill out a nametag with your name and graduation year (class of '92 here) for this all-class reunion on the eve of the destruction of our beloved Mellencamp. The jock and cheerleader/class president/party planner drop by your table to say hi and reminisce. And like all reunions (I assume, never having attended one before), you also get served a delicious three-course meal, have a few drinks with friends old and new, and solve a murder! As with all shows by The Mystery Cafe, it's a fun experiential evening of theater with no separation between audience and performers, rather we're all part of this fun and wacky reunion.
Alma Murder continues through January 31 in the South Metro, with their other show, the immersive wedding show
'Til Death Do Us Die (
which I saw last year) opening this weekend and playing through February 8.
Click here for info and tickets for both shows (dinner included in the ticket price).
The host of our reunion is of course the supercouple Jack Jensen (Adam Fielitz), football star, and his wife Diane Benson-Jensen (Heather Meyer), class president, organizer of the reunion, and doer of pretty much everything. Also at the reunion are long-time principal Mr. Blake (Pete Colburn), his devoted secretary Ms. Belleweather (Brittany Oberstadt), D.J. and youngster (class of 2012) Patina (Jessika Wheeler), and various other staff members and teachers (all played by Brad Erickson, who co-wrote the show with The Mystery Cafe owner Brian Kelly). We're all having a great time, when in barges nerd-turned-real estate mogul Stanley (Josh Carson) to rain on everyone's parade. Turns out he's behind a lot of the bad things that are happening, as revenge for being bullied in high school, and no one is happy about it.
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the cast of Alma Murder with the winning sleuths
(photo courtesy of The Mystery Cafe) |
The story takes a break every now and then as we're served salad and bread (with butter balls also made by Diane, natch), choice of entree, and dessert. It's not until after the entree that the murder happens (with the expected victim), and that's when our work begins: find the clues, bribe the cast, and come up with a creative guess for who the murderer is. The funniest and most correct answers win a prize. There are other moments of audience participation throughout the show, and the wearing of nametags really helps the cast call on people and include us in the show (in a fairly non-threatening way).
The reunion theme works really well with the immersive experience. There's a slide show of old high school photos paired with (un)lucky audience members, some of which look quite plausible. We sing the school fight song together, and listen to favorite songs from different eras of pop culture. Everyone in the cast (which will soon include Dave Gangler and Rita Boersma replacing a couple of the above) is funny and playful, and above all always in character as they mingle with the audience.
Whether you have fond memories of high school (like Jack and Diane) or not (like Stanley and me), this is one high school reunion that everyone can enjoy. RSVP to Diane here and celebrate good old Mellencamp High.
