When Your Last Resort Is To Break Out In Show Tunes...

After one of the nights of Victorian Christmas earlier in December, a woman got in touch with my friend Emma. She said she was going to need some actors to work at her parties that she holds at her bed and breakfast. Well these past two weekends she has been hosting a speakeasy murder mystery party. Now since Emma and I were both cast in Lady Windermere's Fan we weren't able to come and work for her last weekend. But according Barbra, the lady who runs the B&B, said they had close to 14 people a night for two nights and they were excited for this weekend to see how it goes.

Emma Carter and I in costume for Lady Windermere's Fan

Since we couldn't be there the first weekend to help we were more than excited to come out and help with the party. Upon arrival to the house I was immediately taken away by all the beautiful furniture and antiques that filled the room. She lead us back into the kitchen where we were briefed on the order of the evening. We both got characters and costumes. She sped through the itinerary and we were off to making salads for the guests. Rather than what we expected to be 14 or so like the previous events we would be serving only two lucky guests this evening. While Barbra hurried herself around the house preparing the finishing touches Emma and I discussed what exactly our characters were. 

Emma was playing Amanda Moleron (idk how to spell her last name). Her father Lorenzo was the owner of the speakeasy and was brutally murdered, not the murder we were investigating but still murdered. She isn't taking it so well so she is crying pretty much all the time. She is secretly seeking revenge which makes her a suspect. Don't let the black clothing and tears fool you. 

My character was Claire Butt...I don't pick the names....She is the french maid. She is hated by a lot of people merely because she is a sarcastic brat (I think I could handle that part) and she smokes. She is very mysterious and we don't know much about her past. Later we find out and she is actually hunting down and investigating members of the mob. It's an intense job, she secretly wants to be an actress. 

Other Characters we had were, the movie casting director/hostess, which was Barbra. Barbra's husband played the butler/Mob boss' right hand dude/murder victim. The two guest played the Norelli family. Norm and his sister Natasha were the head of the mob. And of course we had a P.I. on duty, who was played by Barbra's father-in-law. So the stage is set the cast is present and the show must go on. Emma and I who had only be told what our job was very quickly seemed a little.....no....REALLY confused. But we began serving. So during the first course, Barbra the "film director" was introducing all of the characters, she asked for Emma and I to come out and meet the guests. She said she was making a movie and for our "audition" we had to sing. She never said to us during the pre show process that we were going to have to sing. As she starred at us with that look that says, "You all said you were actors, so sing." I looked at Emma with a look that said, "How did you get me to do this?" After the exchange of "alright we are going to sing" glances to one another, Emma and I did what any logical person would do. We broke out into showtunes. More specifically we started singing "Somethings Are Meant to Be" from Little Women. After screwing up the words terribly I realize I got some work to do for Okoboji audition.  After the salad was served, the lights go out, or according to Barbra, someone "mysteriously" forgot to pay the electric bill. While the lights were out we hear two gunshots and the lights came back on "mysteriously"...of course. And there on floor laid the dead butler, after the guests "taped him off" they returned to the seats to read clues and start creating suspects.  Then the guest began question "suspects." Of course the foreigner was suspected first, so not knowing I was going to have to answer questions, I attempted to answer them like I do with anything else, with a hell of a lot of sarcasm. When I told them I was innocent, and I wasn't crying because according to fergie big girls don't cry, they said I had done it because I wanted the butler's job. I told that why on earth would I want the butler's job, I was a maid, on the perspective job ladder a butler wasn't going to do much for my future career path. When they brought out Emma for questioning she handled it incredibly (well duh...she's Emma Carter) and since her character was so distraught over her father she was crying all the time. I found the guest giggled when I called Emma a cry baby or a wimp, so I insulted Emma more in one hour then she has probably been in a REALLY long time, and yes I feel real bad. When they began questioning the P.I., he was just not having any of it. When Barbra wondered why he wasn't going to come get finger prints or investigate, he leaned in on the lazy boy he had been sitting on the whole time, and said "I don't know what I'm doin here'" "I just woke up from a nap" "I'm not an actor." So Emma and I realizing we are the last hope for these two guests evening, created our own clues, and passed around bribes. The murder mystery continues tomorrow morning so we won't know how it ends but we left plenty of clues to keep it moving along. It was a wonderful night at a magnificent B&B everyone was amazing and it was a true test of improv and accents skills. One of the most interesting parts the evening was just talking with Barbra's father in law. He told us a lot about his time during the war. Emma said something and with in 3 seconds he turned to her and said, "Are you german?" She responded yes and he turned to me and told me that I didn't look german. I was hoping that that was just because I was in a french maid out fit. But when I began talking to him he turned to me and asked me, "Are you german?" Why indeed sir I am. He told us of the times he was stationed there, about his hunting adventures, and his wife. It was fantastic evening. So many laughs, so much food, and so many unsuspecting aspects that make me excited to work their next party. So if you ever want a good dinner party look up the Victorian Country Inn Bed and Breakfast. Who knows maybe you will have a cry baby heiress and french maid serve you dinner. 

haha this is like the first blog post that doesn't have some message. Nope here it is: When you get yourself a really good friend, find a song you can do together perfectly you never know when you are going to randomly need a musical number. This is perfect for working at murder mystery dinners, and it is probably a nifty party trick to shoe off to your friends. 

DW