Pasta, Passion & Pistols…for the record there’s only one pistol…

If no one has figured it out yet, alliteration might be one of my favorite things ever.  Also puns.  I love a good pun.  And accidentally saying things and somehow managing to rhyme like you just stepped out of a Dr. Seuss book.  Fun stuff!

My good friend Amy gave me a call the other day and invited me over to her place for a murder mystery dinner theater.  Of course, how could I possibly resist?  I think I may have gone to one back in high school (which apparently wasn’t thrilling enough for me to remember any details) but I vaguely remember it took place in the school cafeteria with waaay too many people, and I don’t think we actually got to take part in the mystery solving.

So…on Tuesday afternoon, I procured myself a Katie and we drove that lovely hour and something down 316 past the billboard that says nothing but “JESUS” to good ol’ Athens.

For the record, Amy was in costume and ready when we arrived:

She played Marco Roni: the waiter who dreams of becoming a professional soccer player.

There may have not been much alliteration or rhyming in the game, but there were puns.  Oh, were there puns.  Not only did Amy play Marco Roni (ha ha–get it?), but the mystery we were solving was the murder of–wait for it–Pepi Roni!  Lol.  Awful, I know, but oh so wonderfully awful.  The whole cast included: Rocco Scarfazzi, Mama Rosa, Marco Roni, Bo Jalais, Angel Roni, Tara Misu, Father Al Fredo, and Clair Voyant.  I played Angel Roni…and Clair Voyant because one girl didn’t show up.  The uh…”sassy” Clair Voyant, is, what else, a psychic who can see into the future.

Check out that sassy sock!

Angel Roni is Pepi’s daughter who is in love with Bo Jalais (the script says it was lust at first sight).  Katie played Mama Rosa, Pepi’s wife, known for her Italian cooking.  We dressed her in the most Italian motherly looking apron we could find and some pearls…I think it fit!

Katie as Mama Rosa–still in shock over her husband’s murder.

The whole thing was actually a really fun experience.  The kit included a cd, scripts, clues, name tags, and even a little recipe book.  You’d read each section of the script and then you were instructed to start accusing each other of possibly killing Pepi and then there was a break(for food).  The accusing part was probably my favorite because we all go to try out our horrible Italian accents (gold star for effort guys…).  Amy’s changed every time she spoke, which was hilarious because she started off as an awkward sounding Italian, and then when she couldn’t keep that up anymore she’d try out this really deep manly voice, and eventually she ended up sounding British (in an oddly masculine way).

I on the other hand had to keep up with two characters, which was a lot of info as it turned out.  For some reason I decided that Clair Voyant should have a southern accent, so my sock puppet ended up with a totally different accent than Angel, who had an Italian accent, and I kept forgetting who I was talking as and beating my puppet hand down because I kept waving it around when I was supposed to be Angel (sidenote: my mom talks with her hands, and this made me feel…well, like the natural hand talker in me was finally popping out.  Thanks gene pool.)

I even got to accuse myself of murder.  Clair accused Angel; Angel accused Clair.

And if I haven’t mentioned that the food was fantastic yet: the food was fantastic Amy!  She made this wonderful “chocolate fleck” cake which I inhaled.  And she made us all our own pizza crusts, and fancy baguettes, and bean dip and mmmm…

My pizza dough ball in the foreground. Pizza making in the background.

I liked how the kit included a little recipe book (although I do agree, it would have been too much food to make everything).  We would take breaks after every scene and eat appetizers/dinner/desert.  We made little(big…) pizzas somewhere in the middle and Mama Rosa kept telling her characters they should eat something because they were wasting away.  Lol.  This  reminded me of visiting relatives(“Do you want a cup of coffee” “No, we just had one at so and so’s house.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, thanks.” “Are you sure your sure your sure your sure?” *pouty face* “Well, maybe just one”…so many bathroom breaks…)

The whole cast! (Trying to act in character…trying)

I’d love to pick another one and try it again some day (here’s the amazon link).  We probably would have had a nice debate over who the murderer was had Amy not accidentally played the track that revealed who he/she was (not telling!) a little ahead of schedule.  We were almost at the end though.  No hard feelings, lol.  If we ever try it again, we’ll definitely do a better job of playing the tracks.

The only real critique I can make of the game itself would be that it lacks replayability.  Once you know whodunit, you know whodunit.

I’m thinking next time we should do the wine one….because the names make me laugh: Otto Von Schnapps, Tiny Bubbles, Papa Vito, Marilyn Merlot, Ralph Rottingrape, Hedy Shablee, Bonny Lass, and Bud Wizer.

Tiny bubbles, lol.

Till next week!