Paducah's Market House is presenting "Where There's a Will, There's a Way," a murder mystery production centered around unexpected twists and murder surrounding the reading of a will. Beginning Friday, February 7th, and running for three weekends until the 22nd, Market House is presenting the show as a dinner-theater experience, with audience participation including a group discussion to reveal the murderer in this whodunit.
Chip Bohle is the director of the murder mystery production. He said he had adapted the play, changing the location of the story, but that audiences should be ready for a surprise at the end.
"I adapted this play from a British writer who had it set in London. And the reason I liked it is because there's a will reading, and I really wanted to do a murder mystery based around the reading of a will. So we changed it from London to we Americanized it and put it in New York City. And it's just a fun show. There Are lots of surprises. You never know what's going to happen in the next scene," said Bohle. "And then there's a big surprise at the end, because it is a murder mystery, so you know something's going to happen."
Bohle said the production centers around the reading of a will and two kids who think they are going to get rich, but there's also a side plot involving an attorney who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator.
"There's a person who the will is for, they wrote a sealed letter and a sealed will, and all of these things are read. When these two greedy kids who think they're getting their dads estate of $15 million and there's surprises," said Bohle. "There's another plot line where one of the attorneys, the partners, is an Elvis impersonator. He does that at night. That's his hobby. He's not much of a lawyer, but he's a pretty good Elvis impersonator. And on the day, on the day Elvis died, you can imagine how traumatic a day that was for him. He made some mistakes in his law office, and he found out about those two."
Bohle explained that audiences are going to get a dinner theater experience where individuals will sit eight people at a table, but people can organize themselves in smaller groups. The goal is to solve the mystery at the end of the production.
"Those are the teams, and you work with your team to solve the mystery. And at a certain point in the night, they'll say, 'okay, that's it. You have to tell us who did it and why,'" said Bohle. "That is the main thing that happens. But then some other entertainment that you get, you have dinner, and then during dessert time, we're gonna play a game or two, and I think they'll find that really interesting."
Paducah's Market House Theater is presenting "Where There's a Will, There's a Way," February 7th through the 22nd. For additional information including tickets, visit the Market House Theater website here.
