Review Rundown: The One Where We Wake Up From A Long Winter’s Nap

We start 2024 with a little snack before the Spring Deluge hits us.

That’s right, we’ve looked ahead and there’s a whole lot on the near horizon, with a very busy February just about everywhere we have correspondents. You’ll see some of what’s coming up this week after our two reviews.

But if you really want to get a sense of scope for the season ahead click on over to Everything Immersive and flip through our curated pages or search in your area.

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The First Bad Man — Pan Pan
PWYC; NYC (Under The Radar Fest); run completed

A misfire from the typically intriguing Pan Pan Theatre. We are invited to join a book club, meeting today in a nondescript Lincoln Center rehearsal room. This club only reads one book: Miranda July’s The First Bad Man, her debut novel about a woman who finds unexpected sexual awakening with a physically abusive houseguest. As the group keeps reading and re-reading July’s surreal novel, they grow increasingly fixated on its every minute detail and begin to lose their grip on reality.

It’s a wonderfully bizarre premise, but sadly the show goes nowhere. Early scenes tracing the group’s obsession with the novel are intriguing, and the choice of July is a savvy one — whether the show feels mocking or celebrating of her work will depend on your own preconceived notions. But in a baffling move, the show devotes much of its 75 minute runtime to simply reenacting the novel. The club members, having been introduced, are then never returned to. There is also no interactive element outside of the audience sitting around the performers, as though fellow book club members. If there was a point here, it escaped me.

— Joey Sims, NYC Correspondent

The Murder Express–Funicular Productions
Tickets from 74.5 GBP, Accepting Bookings Through November 2024

I’ll confess, I do love a train trip. Less stressful than a flight, infinitely more glamorous than a bus, and with a certain literary feel to it all. Agatha Christie and all that. So when I heard about the Murder Express, an immersive murder mystery and multi-course meal set aboard a 1920s train from London to the French town of (wait for it), Murder, I was immediately, desperately intrigued.

The Murder Express has been up and running for some time now, and has even spawned a spinoff, the Jewel of the Empire. I entered “Pedley Street Station,” a lavishly themed facsimile of a vintage train station, and was escorted to the bar (after checking any “luggage”) before the whistle was blown for guests to climb aboard.

What happened therein, and frankly, during the pre-show, was something of a mixed bag of old and new comedy and murder mystery tropes. The lighthearted plot zips along between courses of food (and the show is exceedingly proud of its celebrity-chef-designed menu–rather justifiably, as the food is tasty, attractively presented, comes in a variety of options to suit different dietary needs, and, borderline remarkably for ventures of this type, is served piping hot). At any moment, a train porter, first-class passenger, or confidence trickster may join you at your table for a chat or a clue.

The staff were exceptionally professional (I was particularly touched when I was taken aside during dessert and warned that, as a solo party, I should be aware of a protest that might make my planned route to public transportation uncomfortable to walk on my own), and the cast were clearly enjoying themselves–even “Fluffy,” a dog who was, technically speaking, a puppet, but something of a scene stealer. But there was something strangely retro about the Murder Express–and not just in the vintage setting. In many ways, this felt less like other immersive shows I’ve been to, and more like an exceptionally run old-school dinner theater.

However, the joke goes that dinner theater is rarely good dinner or good theater–and The Murder Express breaks that pattern by being both, so climb aboard!

-Ellery Weil, London Correspondent

SLATED FOR THIS WEEK ON NO PRO:

It’s a busy one.

• The January CALL SHEET
• A feature length review of Firefly Tapestry’s Valediction
• Coming Soon featurettes on The Nose, Carousel of Fools, and Temp Cupid
• The NoPro Podcast featuring LA’s Rogue Artists Ensemble