“A Very Brady Murder”
You might balk at paying to see The Brady Bunch. White Rose Productions makes a good case for it, though, with “A Very Brady Murder” mystery dinner theater at the Ramada Inn.
This play cleverly satirizes the TV series. It even brings in Monkee Davy Jones and Alice the maid’s boyfriend Sam the butcher (those two parts are both played by audience members who read from scripts).
The story takes place in the present, but the family still lives in the seventies. Mike Brady (Bob Falkenstein) still earnestly gives out advice like, “The names we call others are the names we call ourselves.”
Greg (Robert Callan) wants to be a rock star. At various times he approaches female audience members with the pickup line, “Hey, groovy chick, would you like to get a soda?” Goody-goody Marsha (Megan Bailey) is insufferable, driving neurotic Jan (Cheryl Lynn) to distraction as she competes for attention.
When Alice (Lisa Supping) gets murdered, dorky Peter (Troy Brokenshire) takes over the investigation using his detective kit. He is helped by younger brother Bobby (Rob Heller), who is like an imp from hell as he rounds up suspects.
In this strong cast, most of the actors have a reasonably close resemblance to their TV counterparts. Deena Simonelli looks a lot like Carol, and Xiomara DeJesus is short and perky enough to convincingly play youngest daughter Cindy.
One suspects that author Cheryl Lynn has seen nearly every episode of the late sixties and seventies TV series. That’s carrying research a bit too far for her own good, but it makes for some funny and shady Bradys.
“A Very Brady Murder”, Ramada Inn at the Malls, 1800 MacArthur Road, Whitehall, Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7 p.m. through June 7 (no show on June 6), $28 per person including dinner, group rates available, 610-439-1037.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
This play cleverly satirizes the TV series. It even brings in Monkee Davy Jones and Alice the maid’s boyfriend Sam the butcher (those two parts are both played by audience members who read from scripts).
The story takes place in the present, but the family still lives in the seventies. Mike Brady (Bob Falkenstein) still earnestly gives out advice like, “The names we call others are the names we call ourselves.”
Greg (Robert Callan) wants to be a rock star. At various times he approaches female audience members with the pickup line, “Hey, groovy chick, would you like to get a soda?” Goody-goody Marsha (Megan Bailey) is insufferable, driving neurotic Jan (Cheryl Lynn) to distraction as she competes for attention.
When Alice (Lisa Supping) gets murdered, dorky Peter (Troy Brokenshire) takes over the investigation using his detective kit. He is helped by younger brother Bobby (Rob Heller), who is like an imp from hell as he rounds up suspects.
In this strong cast, most of the actors have a reasonably close resemblance to their TV counterparts. Deena Simonelli looks a lot like Carol, and Xiomara DeJesus is short and perky enough to convincingly play youngest daughter Cindy.
One suspects that author Cheryl Lynn has seen nearly every episode of the late sixties and seventies TV series. That’s carrying research a bit too far for her own good, but it makes for some funny and shady Bradys.
“A Very Brady Murder”, Ramada Inn at the Malls, 1800 MacArthur Road, Whitehall, Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 7 p.m. through June 7 (no show on June 6), $28 per person including dinner, group rates available, 610-439-1037.
--Dave Howell, 3/03
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)