Winner Winner, Murder on Us Mystery Dinner!

Let’s face it – when it comes to live entertainment, sometimes you want the Bard, sometimes you like it avant-garde and sometimes you just want your theater like a nice shot of tequila (fast, salty and with a twist).

Murder on Us has been in the business of giving folks a bawdy and satisfying good time for over 23 years. And it shows – the jokes are fast, funny and often f-bombed and the actors are pros at what they do. If you’ve never been to one of their shows before, Murder on Us specializes in spoofs of popular culture all dressed up as an interactive murder mystery — with a side of steak and a tall drink. With their latest show CLUE: The Wicked Funny Murder Mystery, the moment you walk in the door of Bravo Brasserie in Providence, screwball characters bring you up to speed with the basic setup. See, we’ve all been invited to dinner tonight by a mystery individual and everyone is a character straight from the CLUE board game. But this evening is really not about the plot, it’s about the improv and there’s plenty to keep everyone entertained as the mystery is unveiled in between courses over the next few hours.

And they are laugh-filled hours, let me tell you. The night we attended there was a great party vibe in the room, as large groups of friends, families celebrating birthdays and even couples like ourselves gathered upstairs at Bravo ready for a good time, some drinks and yes, that steak. As for the food, Bravo offers a three-course menu with your choice of grilled sirloin, chicken, salmon or homemade pasta in vodka sauce – all fresh and flavorful dishes – served by their excellent wait staff. The night we attended there was a great buzz in the room (take that however you wish) and the thing that struck me the most is that everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – had a smile on their face (and often a crazy hat on their head) and was in it for the ride.

Not wanting to spoil the “mystery” part of the show for you all, suffice to say there’s enough campy drama, finger pointing, accusations and double entendres flying to tickle your funny bone and then leave you hungry for more as the wait staff swoops in to serve the next course.

The Murder on Us group is adept at keeping the energy in the room rolling when the scenes are going on around the you in the dining room. You or your whole table might be called on to “help out” the show as a character, sound effect or surprise guest. My husband was tapped to be “Professor Plump,” which was pretty darn funny in itself. The scenes are brisk and joke-filled, then the lights dim and the next course appears, giving you a moment to sort out the many plot points and red herrings that were just thrown at you. And of course, to go and get another drink at the well-stocked Bravo bar.

As the show goes on, inevitably someone ends up dead, all of us are suspects and it’s up to you and your party to solve the whodunit over chocolate cake and coffee. The evening we attended, the winning “detective” was a young guy who was so unbelievably stoked that he had correctly identified the killer AND won a free ticket to another show that he came up to the group’s founder, John Thayer, to thank him again. He’d never been to any shows or seen anything like this before and he was hooked, promising to come back again soon.

And that’s the bottom line – Murder on Us plays their theater fast and funny and the one-on-one action you have with each actor makes it even more winning. There is really nothing like it right now in Rhode Island, and the group is a must-see for folks looking for something unique and memorable for their next date or special occasion.

CLUE: The Wicked Funny Murder Mystery runs through November with a special Halloween performance on October 31. Then kick off the holiday season in high spirits with their spoof-tacular A Deadly Christmas Carol in December.  More info at 401-465-0820 or murderonus.com for schedule.