The Streetwalker and spouse

The Streetwalker and spouse
Deep River Chinese New Year 2011

Club Heaman

Club Heaman

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Wicked Wilhelmina reviews the Altos

Wicked Wilhelmina reviews The Altos
by Hilda Young a mourner

One of  my old friends from Manitoba is a member of the Deep River players. She frequently promotes their events by suggesting I buy tickets to see it with a group of friends. The last suggestion resulted in my husband and I attending the Saturday production of The Altos, "like the Sopranos only deeper". It was an enticing hook. On the actual day I wondered how to dress to a murder mystery dinner theatre in an church basement.We arrived just before curtain time and were escorted to our seats at the "Badda  Bango" club table.
 Little did we know that we were now part of the play as " strippers" coming to the wake for the lead character Tony Alto. 
The audience were all guests/ mourners at Tony Alto's wake.  He had died dramatically in a car bombing. The body found in the car could not be identified. The audience is quickly introduced to all the suspects who may have arranged the hit. As it is a mob funeral there is a table at the entrance with guns. The suspects include Tony's mother, Nona, who Tony had threatened to put in a nursing home, Father Flip the family priest, Toffee Alto, Tony's wife, Chris Alto, Tony's nephew and Senior Alto Tony's uncle who is under indictment with monitored movement.  After a few moments of drama “ Tony” comes back to life as a female mourner- all dressed  in black in head to toe. He reveals himself to Dr. Malaise his shrink.. The legitimate question is asked: Who is in the urn?. He answered one of the “girls” from the strip club. Now we become involved in the drama; Dr Malaise asked Tony to introduce her to our table. He quickly names  'double jointed Sue” etc but for those he does know he gives interesting names: “Bronco Bill”, is the new nickname for one of our table mates. I was  'Wicked Wilhelmina” for the evening.  Drama in the room continued as we were seated in front of the sound/ and lights control area; the curtain covering it fell down so the “hoods” had to fix it. We were served Tony's favorite meal: Italian Wedding soup,Caesar salad,Stuffed Manicotti, Gelato with biscotti between scenes. After the main course we were given cards that asked us to help solve the case. Our table guessed all the main characters. Two guessed the real culprit. However as we had a member of the Players sitting with us we did not  have any hints.- she just said two people had it correct.  The last act focused on killing people who were suspect. It was quit dramatic watching innocent people being killed with toy guns with caps-- noise level high. Finally the truth was revealed. It was not the priest who tried to “marry “ the dead- said he  was in experienced- a former member of a rival gang who was in love with Tonys wife.. It was not his mother who could not remember details. It was not his uncle or his nephew.,  The Doctor did it! She could not handle dealing with Tony. 
Over all it was a fun evening. I have a different view of the eidtor of the local paper now..
The Deep River players have lots of energy and a great sense of timing. Looking forward to their next event. 

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