By

Leticia Marie Sanchez

This week’s feature may seem a bit off the beaten path for the Vivaldi-loving readers of Cultural Cocktail Hour.

Warning: if you’re expecting  a white-gloved, chamomile-tea sipping Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express, you’re in for a huge surprise. Instead, the boisterous atmosphere feels like Sherlock and Watson at a local pub, laughing uproariously with their comrades as a hapless victim gets assassinated during a game of darts.

Held at Hollywood’s Next Door Lounge, “The Hollywoodland Murder” re-creates a movie premiere about a dark subject matter: the Black Dahlia murder. This dinner party proves raucous and racy. The highlight of the production is undoubtedly the talented cast of actors. Witty, engaging, and hilarious, their sense of spontaneity steals the show. Zingers fly in this performance, both between the actors themselves and in their interaction with audience members. A second highlight is the exuberant team-building that the clue-hunting fosters, strangers in the night becoming fellow detectives.

A third bonus is the speakeasy setting, which enhances the noir milieu.

At the very end of the production, one hears the sultry sounds of trumpet and piano. One minor suggestion would be that during the moments of clue-gathering, this soothing music be played earlier, so true detective work can occur above the din of the bar, beyond the sound and the fury of a madcap comedic production.