Las Vegas

Comedy Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre

 

Special Bus Packages from Phoenix to Las Vegas

 
Review by

Jeffrey Taylor

 

11/14/09 - Las Vegas, NV -- I met David Sebastian Bach in September when he interviewed me about my two books, A Gentleman Drunk and Going from W2 to 1009, on his Las Vegas radio show. Off air he told me about his former life as a European rock star, behind-the-scenes events  and his unusual journey to Las Vegas. Wanting to win at "who has the most shocking past?", I shared with David about my being thrown out of Harrah's, my night at the Fremont jail and getting released at 4:00am with a group of prostitutes at my side.

 

After spending substantial time with him and his wife, Beth, I learned that we both loved theatre and that we both wanted to bring back dinner theatre to Las Vegas. Over the next six weeks, he conceived and wrote a brilliant comic murder mystery called Pageants Can Be Murder. The show, which he directs, opened at the Alexis Park Resort in Las Vegas last night and Toby, my wife, and I flew in from Scottsdale to be part of the fun.

 

In order to give us the same experience as first night attendees, David asked me to never look at the script or talk to the actors about the show until we saw it first hand.

 

Without giving away the plot, we witnessed four beautiful and extremely talented Las Vegas performers transform themselves into beauty pageant contestants. Played by Stacey Nicole, Minka Cara, Jessica Jensen and Sally Stewart, they mesmerized me with their singing and acting skills. They were truly exceptional in their abilities to make me believe that I was attending a beauty pageant that runs amok.

 

In order to give the comedy additional zest, Davis writes in parts for an emcee (played by George Glass), a pageant owner (played by Sammy Gartner) and a detective (played by Lou DeMeis) who needs to solve the mystery with the audience's help.

 

Not satisfied with the incredible performance of these seven players, David adds more unbelievable comic relief with a pageant contestant mother (played by Lynn Steinhurst) and a Jamaican stud (played by Dennis Rodriguez).

 

The performance included everything I could ever want in a show. Pageants Can Be Murder has a beautiful and talented cast, witty and intelligent dialog and a surprise ending that neither Toby nor I could predict.

 

And, if you do not think that the show is worth the price of admission, let me share with you my observations on the dinner, custom prepared by the Alexis Park Resort, a high scale business hotel. The dinner included a fresh garden salad, fresh baked rolls, soup, entree and dessert (which I cannot divulge).

 

The actors served the meals during intermissions while staying in character, giving me an upfront and close relationship with an actor that rarely incurs in a Broadway performance. In addition, the actors remained after the show for photographs and hugs. What a treat! I know that everyone of them is going to become famous and hopefully remembers to tell everyone where they started.

 

As a producer, I am selfish and want the show to make a lot of money for David, the cast, crew and my family. However, it was the audience that got the best deal in town; theatre, dinner and an unique experience that can never be duplicated anywhere else on this planet. And, it all happened in Las Vegas.

 

My personal thanks to David and his incredible team.