They’ve lived to kill another day! After a tumultuously ubiquitous 30th Anniversary Season, Do Or Die Productions has landed steadily in their Monday Night Mystery venue— Perry’s Restaurant of Odenton— and is thrilling and killing just in time for Christmas! Making its world-premiere, new script Murder on 34th Street, written and directed by the company’s founder, CJ Crowe, is— as the tag-line promises— a killer show with a dinner to die for! It’s got half-a-dozen Christmas characters all thrown into chaos for the holiday season! And it wouldn’t be a true Do Or Die Productions performance without murder on the menu!
This year’s chuckle-filled Christmas show takes place at The North Pole (as so many Christmas shows do!) but it’s not Christmas as usual— rather somewhat far from it. You see, some crazy, bedraggled Christmas characters, who have lost their Christmas spirt and are suffering from PTCD (Post-Traumatic-Christmas-Disorder) have been remanded to the ‘Santatorium’— a place for respite and eggnog— for those needing holiday rehabilitation. Only with the frazzled Nurse Cratchit in charge, aided and assisted by the North Pole’s most ‘tuned-in’ happy elf, Merry Juana, things aren’t all sugar plums and flying reindeer! With the zany Felix Navi-Dodd up to his hilarious hijinx and Mac Adamia threating to crack everyone’s nuts— he thinks he’s the nutcracker after all— Santa might just be beside himself with all the Christmas chaos. Add to it the fact that murder’s on the menu and everyone is in for one not-so-silent night!
The Usual Suspects
Seven characters; six actors! You do the math! CJ Crowe has pulled out some of the holiday’s more iconic Christmas characters— like Cindy Lou Who from Dr. Seuss’ the Grinch and the jolly fat man himself— and adapted them to the hijinx and humor of her usual comedic murder mystery scripts. While other characters showcase her pun-based name-plays for the holidays (Merry Juana… the ‘happiest’ elf at the North Pole) and incorporate her level of creativity as a writer into the fun. All around it’s a series of laughs that were enjoyed by an audience of over 40 on both opening night and second performance. Crowe has created a script that’s loaded with holiday hilarity and keeps the audience laughing and guessing right up until the conclusion!
Merry Juana
In case it wasn’t made clear the first two or three times I mentioned it, Miss Merry Juana is the ‘happiest’ elf at the North Pole. If Merry had a birthday, we’re pretty sure it’d be 4/20. Played by the incomparably funny, pun-tastic Erin Tarpley, this giggling elf is calming everyone way, way down with her super-special brownies, whose top-secret recipe is known to her and her alone! Tarpley slays when it comes to audience interaction and is a crowd favorite, particularly when it comes to the investigation scene.
Nurse Cratchit
Flustered, frazzled, and completely losing control of the Santatorium inmates, Nurse Cratchit, a play on Nurse Ratchet and Bob Cratchit’s wife, Emily, has her hands full. Played by Jelli Peaco, this character spends a lot of time trying to keep the inmates in order— often by singing Christmas Carols at them/to them, and occasionally encouraging the audience to sing along with her in an attempt to soothe the inmates— well, one inmate in particular: the highly-strung, nutcracking-nutcracker, Mac Adamia.
Mac Adamia
If you want spastic on a stick, Talis Tighe has got you covered as Mac Adamia, the “nutcracker” who is perpetually in pursuit of The Rat King. (It’s a whole thing and you’ll laugh your merry rear-end right off trying to keep up with Tighe’s antics.) Choosing a gruff-n-tumble accent for the character, which only heightens the hilarity of Mac, you’re in for a treat if this one comes to your table during the “table-talk” section of the show because boy oh boy is Mac Adamia nuts!
Cindy Lou Who…(who is waaaaaay more than two)
Forget the cute, adorable, peppermint-candy-holding, cooing tot from the 1960’s animated film. This is jaded, drunk, chain-smoking granny-Who come to raise Who-lly hell all throughout The Santatorium. Well, not actually. CJ Crowe plays a jaded, drunk, chain-smoking divorcee who has the audience in stitches with some of her signature jokes and moves that she delivers throughout the night. You’ll experience some tried and true comedy at her experienced hands in this humorous role.
Felix Navi-Dodd & Prospero Anyo
Making his Do Or Die Productions debut, Josh Handal is filling up the tall order of playing not one but two characters in his first show out the gate. With good instincts and clear differentiation between the twin brothers, Felix Navi-Dodd and Prospero Anyo (see again Crowe’s cleverness in the naming of the characters?), Handal brings some sass and shenanigans to Felix Navi-Dodd, the resident prankster of the Santatorium and he brings some serious fury and need of anger management when his Prospero Anyo shows up.
Santa Claus
Played by longtime company member Pat McPartlin, the jolly old elf himself isn’t quite too sure where he stands when it comes to the Santatorium. (Right beside Merry Juana if he can help it since those two are…making Eskimo kisses as it were!) McPartlin delivers a spot-on performance as Santa Claus, lending his rich baritone voice and vocal affectation to the character, but also bringing a level of anger that we rarely get to see portrayed in any instance of Santa Claus. Of course he’s only mad at one particular individual; we’ll let you figure out who, though it won’t take very long to guess. And Santa, being the chief supreme elf in charge, doubles up as the show’s investigator and he handles the audience with a practiced air and balance of humor that keeps the audience engaged all throughout the performance.
In Conclusion
Whodunit? Well, that is something that simply cannot be revealed. You’ll have to come along to The North Pole at Perry’s Restaurant this December and find out for yourself. Take your guesses! Could have been any number of those kooky characters “locked up” inside the ‘Santatorium’ in recovery from PTCD (you know, Post-Traumatic Christmas Disorder?) Whoever it was, it’s bound to be a bloody good time for all!
Murder on 34th Street plays Monday December 18th 2023 at Perry’s Restaurant— 1210 Annapolis Road in Odenton, MD where Do or Die Mysteries are currently in residence with their Monday Night Mysteries series. Reservations are required and tickets are available for purchase by calling (443) 442- 3810 or by purchasing them online.
Be sure to check out Do Or Die Productions’ upcoming 2024 schedule:
Monday Night Mysteries at Perry’s Restaurant in Odenton
Thursday Night Thrillers at 9Five Kitchen & Bar in Linthicum
And other events as they arise throughout the year!
