“My Big Fat Italian Wedding Murder”

[rating=3] Remember “Tony and Tina’s Wedding”? Were you there? At the original in Piper’s Alley? The second generation with the service at an actual church and the reception on Belmont? Did you have fun? If you had a good time and felt that you liked the experience, how about an Italian wedding where someone gets killed? Maybe even more than one murder takes place? Could you handle this experience?

Murder, marriage and mangia are all taking place in Roscoe Village at a restaurant called “The Reveler” ( I plan to do a full review of their vittles soon) on Damen and Roscoe. You enter the restaurant, which was jumping on a Saturday night both indoors and on their covered patio. You wend your way to the area marked private and you enter thru a small alcove. If your name is on the list ( that means you had a reservation) you are here for the festivities that will celebrate the consummation of  Frankie and Abby’s marriage. Your are there for the reception and are among family and friends, and as it turns out, a murderer ( or maybe more).

This is a two and a half hour evening of entertainment, dining and drinking and even a little bit of dancing. There are some table games and prizes offered and the biggest one of the evening- can your table figure out who dunit?

The drinks are served and we meet the players/family and friends but wait- there is an outline where someone has been murdered on the floor of the banquet hall. As we dine, we learn more and each table or portion of a table forms a team where they gather clues to see if they can solve the murder mystery. Each “team” gets an envelope that says “do not open under penalty of the M.A.F.I.A. ( The mothers and fathers Italian Association). In the envelope a sheet with instructions and a pencil along with some bogus money that you can use to bribe family members in order to get clues and solve the murder(s).

While all of this is going on, we are enjoying our cocktails, and then each  portion of the dinner is served. We began with margherita pizza, followed by a Caesar salad, then the penne rosa pasta and for desert a sort of cinnamon pretzel , truly delicious, but I think many guests anticipated wedding cake. I know Jane did.

Written by Jimmy Ferraro and David Craven, this is a special type of interactive theater. Ferraro also directed the show and for the most part is on the floor and part of the evening’s entertainment ( looking like Big Julie from “Guys and Dolls”). The other cast members are Laura Blackwell as the mother of the bride, John Blackwell as the father, and the bride is played by Abby DeRosa. Dave Perez handles Johnny, the best man and Andy Phinney plays Father James. Matthew Storino is the bodyguard, but I am not sure for whom ,and the delightful Arlene Arnone plays Nonny, the bride’s grandmother.

Frankie’s ex- girlfriends, or are some of them yet, are played by Audry Napoli (Roxy), Genese Dadzie ( as Tina) and Amelia Buell (Sophie). Our host for the evening is Georgio ( played by George McDonald who was carrying around a script, making me think he is new to the show). The show is fun and you will meet some others if you are at one of the larger tables. You will also learn some games like “pass the handkerchief” and f course will dance the”Chicken Dance”, The Tarantella and will probably join in song at least once. I will say that the curtain that closes this area off is not enough to block out the Saturday crowd ( remember, we are just blocks away from Wrigley Field).

I am told that every evening/performance is unique and so the murder(s) are never the same. The clues are also different.  See it once or see it often- you will never see the same show twice!

Attending this wedding” Murder Mystery” is $69 each and includes your dinner. The bar is optional and cash. By the way, if you pay your bill in cash, you will get a discount over paying with a credit card. Tickets can be purchased at www.buytix.net

“My Big Fat Italian Wedding” is only available for going as follows:

Saturdays  6 p.m.

Sundays  4 p.m.

Roscoe Village has meters and some free spots and we had no problem finding a space.

The Reveler is located at 3403 N. Damen ( enter on Damen Ave) in Chicago.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “My Big Fat Italian Wedding Murder’