There’s so little left of our once-flourishing dinner theater scene that it’s tempting to mention the menu — meat loaf, garlic/parmesan chicken breast or ravioli in white sauce with broccoli florets — before reminding you that Doug Marr is still directing delightful entertainment at his Circle Theatre.
This time it’s An Inspector Calls, the dramatic thriller by J.B. Priestly, opening Friday, Oct. 14, with performances Thursday-Saturday evenings, dinner at 7 p.m. and show at 8 p.m., except for that final one at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6. Dinner and show are $23, $13 for just the play in the lower level of Central Presbyterian Church, 55th and Leavenworth.
Dave Sindelar does the inspector in a cast that includes Deb Kelly, Tim Duggan, Don Harris, Erin Dinnen and Chris Elston. Set in 1912 England, a prominent family is celebrating an engagement of their daughter that will join them with another wealthy family when, you guessed it, “an inspector calls.”
Call 402.553.4715 or visit dlmarr@cox.net for more information. If you want to experience quality theater in a laidback, relaxed setting with no extra charge for a few introductory quips by the droll Doug, visit this comfy site just east of Elmwood Park.
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Another throwback to the golden age of dinner theater returns Saturday only, and you can pick from the entire menu of Rick’s Boatyard Café when the River Front Theater presents Mummy Dearest at 7:30 p.m. It’s an interactive mystery set “in the land of pharaohs, pyramids and belly dancers,” and producer Manya Nogg promises “a small pre-show belly dance.”
Didn’t someone once say, “There may be small belly dances, but there are no small belly dancers”? Or was that something about actors and roles? The mystery costs $20 with no extra charge for the belly dance.
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You have to wait a few weeks for Chanticleer to mount Sex Please We’re Sixty, which gives Lorie O’Bradovich time to transition into the role vacated when Melissa Jarecke left the stage unintentionally.
Melissa took an unscripted tumble that left her with a broken ankle but grateful that it wasn’t worse. The play, by the way, involves a potent pill to recharge the female sex drive, but brings out the femininity in a man who takes it by mistake.
Having just turned 75, you can forgive me for finding a playwright’s notions about sex in the sixties rather quaint and limited.
—Warren Francke
Cold Cream looks at theater in the metro area. Email information to coldcream@thereader.com.