Munckins, Halle Berry, Lady Gaga and a murdering campaign manager; that’s who I spent my weekend with, and if you’re smart, you’ll cough up the cash for a visit as well, because despite my preconceived notions of how lame my evening was going to be, dinner theater is amazing!
I went to a place in Atlanta called Agatha’s, which is murder mystery dinner theater that requires audience participation on varying levels. I was dubious and expected a bunch of old drunks or kids celebrating their 13th birthdays. There were both, but there were also fairly normal people too. Well, as normal as people who pay for dinner theater can be.
Right now the show is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow… Someone DIES!” Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere your entire life, it’s obviously a “Wizard of Oz” parody, and it’s actually pretty funny. I worried about that too, but I actually laughed (real laughs, not those fake ones you do when people are watching and expect you to laugh). It’s not straight from a script, and the actors play off the audience, which is kind of nice. And pretty hilarious as the night goes on and people keep drinking.
Speaking of drinking, I did my fair share there. Mostly because the bartender was obviously some sort of wizard and made a drink called the Halle Berry, which tasted like Heaven. I originally ordered the Lady Gaga, but much like the real Lady Gaga, it was a little too odd for me to take in large amounts.
I have no clue how much the drinks were, but the cost of admission is $65, plus $5 for parking in the garage closest to the theatre. I totally get it – that’s pricy, especially if you have a huge family, but it’s worth it. Look, I’ll admit that I’m pretty cheap. I’m a single mom and I watch my money, so for me to say $65 is worth it is a pretty big deal. Now let me tell you why I’m okay with the cost.
First, you get the show, duh. But wait… You get an appetizer buffet, which has some fun little nibbles on it that seem to change as they run out. Like, run out of cheese? They add deviled eggs, etc. Then soup, salad, main course (stuffed pork tenderloin was amazing) with a glass of wine and then dessert and coffee. In between courses you are entertained by the actors and one another.
For all of you who regularly read my columns, you’ll know that I love me some people watching, and Agatha’s is a great place for that. My favorite, by far, was the lady who was probably 60 (which translates into way old enough to know better) that was so drunk her husband had to walk her out before the end of the show. It’s pretty hard to get that drunk when they constantly feed you, but she was a champ. She totally played the go big or go home card, sitting like no lady in a short-ish dress should EVER sit, interrupting the actors once (which was fairly humorous, since they told her to hush), and doing that drunk thing where you stand up and kind of sway back and forth while you have a really stern look on your face, as if scowling at your body will make it behave when you’ve consumed your weight in chardonnay.
I was a munchkin (I was sad I didn’t get to be Auntie Eminem) and got to have my American Idol moment when I sang about being “off to find the killer.” I was amazing, but there were about 12 other people singing too, so no one got to really hear how amazing I was. Sad times.
Despite not being the center of attention during my singing part (which I actually appreciated), it was an awesome evening. My date and I sat across from Glenda’s parents (real life parents not fake for the show parents), and they were super entertaining, and super awesome since they drive from coastal Alabama to see their daughter perform brilliantly in Atlanta. So if they can come all that way, you have no excuse to stay at home when you can eat a five course meal and make fun of people.
