I talked my running buddy and my mother in law into attending a murder mystery show during Laughfest. It was at a tapas restaurant upstairs in a large open room with a stage. The company who put on the murder mystery traveled all over the country to do these shows and performed locally at another restaurant. I had no idea what to expect. I had always wanted to attend a murder mystery show so this was the perfect opportunity.
As we arrived the actors were in full character wandering around meeting the guests as they entered the room. We were super early because it was a free show and seating was first come /first serve. At first it was awkward to have a conversation with them as they came over because they were so “in character.” As more people arrived, they randomly handed out binders to people in the crowd who were given roles to play. I recognized one of the characters chosen, who was perfect for his part and really got into his role as a shady informant.
The photographer came around as one of the male characters made the request to “show a little ankle.” We obliged his request and I was sooo grateful I had just shaved my legs.
The theme was a roaring 20’s back when bootlegging and gambling crimes were prevalent. Our quest was to figure out who was the murderer by asking questions during each intermission.
That was the part where you had two choices. Get into it and mingle with the characters or exit the building like we saw several people in the back row do.
The hardest part was trying to figure out what questions to ask the different characters. As we got better questions, the characters started to give us clues to go off of. We mistakenly thought we found the murderer and we were almost cocky thinking we had uncovered the truth but it turned out the character really just had to go to the bathroom. I should have trusted my gut and pinned it on the guy with a mullet. NEVER TRUST A MULLET!
Murder Mystery shows are definitely what you put into them. If you get into it you will have a great time but if you don’t participate, it will be really lame.
Grand Rapids locals check out https://www.grimprov.com/Public-Murder-Mystery-Dinner/ for a local murder mystery and https://www.murdermystery.com/ for more of a national search
