Over 100 people were present at the Gunner’s Club for the opening show of the “Friends: The One with Murder” musical on Saturday, March 25, 2023.
Attendees could be seen lining up outside of the Gunner’s Club as they waited for the doors to open and to take their seats for the murder-mystery dinner party. Guests mingled with familiar faces and lined up at the bar for refreshments before the show began.
It wasn’t long before the show began as the Chandler character walked around and mingled with some of the guests before taking a seat.
Soon loveable characters Phoebe, Rachel, Gunther, Joey and Janice all came out to set the scene before Ross and Monica arrived in act two. The friends were putting on a fundraiser open mic for Monica’s surprise birthday party and those in attendance were set up to be Monica’s friends and family.
The audience laughed as they experienced the Janice character terrorizing Chandler in true Friends fashion and as they caught iconic easter-eggs from the long-time series.
Audience members, Adrienne Henderson and Robin Methot were happy to see the characters capturing their favourite characters and their personalities.
“I’ve never been to one of these dinner parties before and Adrienne dragged me here, but I very much enjoyed it,” said Methot.
“I caught all the references – the ‘PIVOT’ was hilarious,” said Henderson. “I’m a huge Friends fan and I loved the meat-sweats comment, it was my absolute favourite. I thought all the actors were wonderful and I think they captured their personalities perfectly, the mannerisms and everything were spot on.”
After act one ended, guests were served chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, salad and a dinner roll provided by Two Spoons Catering, and a desert of ice cream and cookies served in a martini glass were served after the second act.
The story goes awry in the third act as a murder takes place and the friends work to solve how it could have happened.
Theresa Noon-Hunter, owner of There’s a Production spoke about the night and what sets her shows apart from others.
“I set these shows up like it’s a spectacle,” she said. “It’s an immersive experience but you don’t have to interact, if you want to just be entertained and enjoy yourself, you can or if you want to get involved you can get that opportunity as well. I think its special and different because they are also musicals and I write my own lyrics for the songs. We’ve been doing this for ten years and there really is a formula that I’ve had to figure out.”
The Friends show marks the first return after the pandemic and members of There’s a Production are looking forward to their future performances.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
