Mint Julep Murders: Southern fried laughs

Not since Grant marched from Atlanta to the sea 150 years ago has the South been so thoroughly barbequed as it is in The Mint Julep Murders, the new comedy from Act Out Mystery.

This audience participation dinner theater production manages to skewer everything Southern in its wake from Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire to Dallas and the Golden Girls providing lots of chuckles along with an excellent meal.

The premise of the show is that Charlotte O’Mara (a take off on Scarlett O’Hara – all character names have been changed slightly to avoid copyright infringement) is hosting a Mint Julep Ball hoping to find her latest husband. Unfortunately, just as the ball gets underway, the Yankee carpet bagger who’s trying to collect the taxes on her plantation, Tara Haute, turns up dead, leaving all in attendance as suspects.

Before long J.R. Ewing shows up to play detective, interrogating everyone from Blanche Dubois to Tennessee Williams. And if things weren’t crazy enough with JR in charge, things get even more outrageous when Bristol Palin, fresh from her Dancing with the Stars third place finish, makes an appearance. It’s always best to suspend logic and just enjoy the zaniness of the night. 

With a year of shows under its belt, Act Out has established a stable troupe of actors. Lara Starr Rigores pulls off one of the best Scarlett O’Hara impersonations since Carol Burnett took her stab at the role, then transforms into a Valley Girl-esque Bristol for the third act. Carson Gilmore has loads of fun as Peter Butler, the butler, who seems to have more secrets than anyone else. And Paul Vander Roest leaves the audience gasping when he comes out in a maid’s uniform as sassy Glow the cook in the first act, then dons a cowboy hat to channel JR, his finest characterization to date.

But the real star of this performance is Tory Thompson who plays a restrained tax collector in the first act, a character which barely even hints at what he’s capable of doing. But then next act, you find out as Thompson dons a dress and lets loose to impersonate Bette Davis as Charlotte Hollis from Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte. Thompson manages to traverse a very fine line between bitchy, devious and crazy expertly, all the while being side splittingly funny as the audience wonders where he’s going to go next.

Part of the fun of the Act Out Mystery productions is they recruit audience members to play small roles. Those audience members selected stand at their seats at the appropriate time and read 4-6 lines from the script. Great acting is not expected, merely reading the lines. But sometimes the most outrageous things occur during these audience parts, such as on opening night when the audience member playing Melanie Wilkes kept giving lines, far beyond what was scripted. The cast merely ad libbed their way back to the script while the rest of the audience was rolling in their seats.

If high drama and an Agatha Christie style mystery is what you’re looking for, go to another ball. But if it’s some campy fun and a silly mystery you want, then RSVP for The Mint Julep Murders right away.

For tickets and more information visit the Act Out Mystery website.