Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre 2015 Season Lineup Includes Odd, Crazy, Kooky and Drowsy

Beef and Boards Dinner Theatre opens its 2015 season with a classic romp with roommates of polar opposite personalities carrying through the year with music, adventure and holiday shows.

Indianapolis stage favorites Eddie Curry and Jeff Stockberger will team up for The Odd Couple. Check back here for a review as I do not plan on missing that one.

The classic South Pacific is also included with the year's offerings, reminding us love will always find a way. The lovable Addams family characters will creep across the stage and the northside theater will bring its traditional holiday show to round out the season.

Below find the full schedule with the link for tickets and full details by clicking here.

Beef & Boards 2015 Season

The Odd Couple
Dec. 28 – Feb. 2, 2015

Two Beef & Boards favorites will star in this tale of mismatched roomates, with Jeff Stockberger as the easygoing Oscar Madison and Eddie Curry as the uptight Felix Ungar, who moves in with Oscar after his marriage falls apart.

Crazy For You

Feb. 6 – March 30

The stage is filled with all things Gershwin as it presents the story centering around Bobby Child, who is sent to Nevada to foreclose on a theatre. When he falls in love with the local postmistress, he devises a plan to save the theatre. Songs include “I’ve Got Rhythm,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

The Drowsy Chaperone

April 3 – May 11

This parody of American musical comedy of the 1920s makes its Beef & Boards debut. A middle-aged musical theatre buff plays the record of his favorite musical, the (fictional) 1928 hit The Drowsy Chaperone, and the show comes to life – with two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, gangsters posing as pastry chefs and an intoxicated chaperone.

Peter Pan

May 15 – June 29

The imaginations of the young and young at heart will soar to Neverland. Fly with Peter and his friends in this musical adaptation of the play by Sir James M. Barrie to a land of mischievous fairies, an Indian tribe, a ticking crocodile, bungling pirates and the famous Captain Hook, played by Jeff Stockberger.

Smoke on the Mountain: Homecoming 

July 5 – Aug. 17

The lovable – and imperfect – Singing Sanders Family returns for the third installment of the popular comedy series. The story takes place in 1945 – seven years since the Sanders Family first came to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church for a Saturday Night Sing. Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe has been called to preach in Texas and is giving his last service before he leaves with his wife June, who is eight months pregnant. Young Dennis Sanders will take over as the pastor, but not before more hilarious and touching stories, and two dozen toe-tapping Bluegrass Gospel favorites.

South Pacific

Aug. 21 – Oct. 5

Set in an island paradise, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of predjudice and World War II. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a French plantation owner, Emile, but is conflicted by what she learns about him. And a strapping lieutenant falls for an island girl, but battles his own fears and prejudices. Adapted from a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, South Pacific won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score for songs that include “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Nothing Like a Dame” and “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.”

The Addams Family
Oct. 9 – Nov. 23

On stage for the first time at Beef & Boards and just in time for the spooky Halloween season, it’s the Tony Award-nominated macabre musical comedy. Gomez Addams faces every father’s nightmare when his daughter, Wednesday, falls in love. What’s worse, she begs him not to tell her mother, Morticia. Everything will change for the family on the fateful night that they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

A Beef & Boards Christmas 2015 

Nov. 28 – Dec. 23

The holiday season is celebrated with the theatre’s original production, featuring beautiful costumes, heartwarming songs, dazzling dancing and even Santa himself. A tradition at Beef &Boards for more than 20 years.

CHILDREN’S THEATRE

The Pyramid Players also announce their 2015 Live Theatre for Kids series. Designed to entertain children of any age, these shows are a great way to introduce preschoolers to live theatre. Youngsters also have the opportunity to meet the cast after the show for pictures and autographs.

Charlotte’s Web

Feb. 20 - March 21

The beloved children’s tale kicks off the Live Theatre for Kids season. Based on E.B. Webb’s popular children’s book of the same name, this musical brings to the stage the tale of an unlikely friendship forged between a young pig and a spider.

Snow White

Oct. 16 - Nov. 14

This classic fairy tale, made popular by the Brothers Grimm, centers around a beautiful princess, who is forced to flee from her home and finds refuge in the forest with some new friends. This musical adaptation includes magic mirrors, seven silly dwarfs and a heroic prince.

A Christmas Carol

Dec. 5 through 21

Returning in 2015 is Beef & Boards’ one-hour adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, on stage for select performances. Enhanced with holiday carols, this iconic tale of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge who is given a second chance is the ideal way to enjoy the holidays.

Images furnished

Elizabeth J. Musgrave writes two magazine food and wine columns: Destination Dining and White Linen & Corks,and is a travel, features, food and wine writer, travel and food photographer, and performing arts and restaurant critic. Catch her as the Travel & Leisure Adviser on FOX59 Morning News Show. She also is a speaker, consultant and trainer for hospitality, travel and luxury businesses, P.R., and tourism groups, as well as a radio and television guest and host. Follow her on Twitter @GottaGo, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Theater Review: Mystery Cafe of Indianapolis: Ho Ho Homicide

Robert Kingery and Melissa Gutierrez    Image/IzzyEvans

Evidence suggests that Murder Mystery dinners gained popularity in the 1980s as a culmination of Hollywood's '40s mystery movies, radio Whodunnits in the '40s and '50s, theaters-in-the-round and dinner theaters which were predominant in the '60s and '70s. As is with most things, what once was old is new again, and this is true with audience-participation performances.

The Mystery Cafe, originating in '88 in Canton MA., is the original, and longest running, mystery theater company in the nation.

Mystery Café of Indianapolis was founded in ’92. The currently running performance, “Ho Ho Homicide” is performed at Milano Inn, 231 S. College St., Indianapolis. Alternate locations are available for various performances.

The play, written by Nita Hardy, is a zany, over the-top spoof of whodunnits. The plot finds southern belle, Miss Charlotte O’Tara, portrayed by Melissa Gutierrez, about to be murdered. When the dirty deed occurs, her relative from Ireland sings they are “Cousins, Identical Cousins” (think The Patty Duke Show's theme song here) Maureen O’Tara, also Gutierrez. Maureen puts on her sleuthing cap and hires Nick Saint, private detective.

Saint, a droll, Humphrey-Bogart caricature, portrayed by Robert Kingery, paces the floor while piecing together clues.

Gutierrez and Kingery whip through several characters each, switching accents, costumes and mannerisms without missing a beat. The duo shines brightest while verbally sparring with each other and both show genuine enjoyment in their roles. While this play is performed well enough to be on stage, the fun is found with the interaction between the characters and the audience.

The meal is served between acts as four courses, giving ample time to jot down clues, discuss possible suspects with other diners (seating is family style) and enjoy the food at a leisurely pace. Dinner consists of soup, salad, entrée choice of four traditional Italian dishes, and dessert of Spumoni ice cream.

Audience participation is cornerstone to the success and enjoyment of the evening (Translation: leave the curmudgeon at home). The more you get into the mood, the more fun it is. I was given the role of the Jamaican psychic "Madam Cleo" and sat near audience characters "Red Butler" and "Blondie Bloomwood" (who was a suspect). Awards are given out to the audience members: one for best actor and one for correctly guessing the murderer. Photo opportunities are available after the show. Ticket price covers the performance, meal (with coffee or tea) and good-natured fun. Adult beverages and gratuity are not included in the price.

Bottom Line: Mystery Cafe's outlandish groaners, over-the-top impersonations and slight innuendos make "Ho Ho Homicide" an absolutely delightful whodunnit and a refreshing alternative for an evening out.

For tickets, schedule and information, visit TheMysteryCafeIndy.com
For menu, hours and location of restaurant, visit MilanoInn.com

Elizabeth J. Musgrave is a syndicated columnist, travel writer, performing arts and restaurant critic. Catch her as Indy’s Entertainment Adviser on 93 WIBC, and follow her on Twitter @GottaGo and Facebook. Gotta Go is published in M magazine and the following newspapers: South Sider Voice, Indiana Weekender, New Palestine Reporter, Pendleton Times Reporter and Fortville-McCordsville Reporter.