Fletch Lives -- Guest Review by Doctor Terror
Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote (Epsom Playhouse and National Tour)
I saw Angela Lansbury's last film (she has a tiny cameo, appearing on Zoom, playing an online detective game with Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, Stephen Sondheim and others in Glass Onion, the second of the superlative 'Knives Out' trilogy). I also saw her last West End theatre appearance as Madame Arcati, the medium in Noel Coward's Blythe Spirit (she knew him, naturally), energetically darting about the stage, despite having two titanium hips.
But here she is again! The bonkers concept of Tim Benzie's remarkable evening is that he shows an old episode of Murder She Wrote and the audience solves it together, determining whodunnit. During the course of this, we wave paddles featuring Lansbury's supersleuth Jessica Fletcher on lollipop sticks, let off party poppers at her 'lightbulb moment', explore the careers of the principal actors, experience a heartfelt tribute to the genius of Dame Angela and even take part in a raffle. The Epsom audience cheered loudly every time the 'Epsom Derby' was mentioned in the episode (or 'The Derby', as we and anyone outside of bloody America would call it). It truly felt like a local show for local people.
The particular episode changes for ALMOST every show. The one I saw was the one with the actors who played F[REDACTED] in [REDACTED]er and the J[REDACTED]er in B[REDACTED], as well as the Las Vegas lounge lizard who was [REDACTED]lot in [REDACTED]lot. It was bliss: the ultimate immersive theatrical experience, beating even Magic Mike and, funnily enough, Murder She Didn't Write. Only a Joy Swift Original Murder Weekend (review coming soon) goes even further down this line. Why, I was even able to go on stage and take part in a dialogue segment with Tim to show the occasional archness of the show's scripting.
He had even created lyrics to the show's brilliantly jaunty theme and we all sang along.
His love of the show and of Angela Lansbury herself was unmistakable, and I guess mine matched it. At the end, the bloke sitting next to me, who had won a Jessica Fletcher fridge magnet in the raffle, handed it to me. 'Your need is greater than mine,' he said. How right he was!