Frosted Glass Creative often performs in Stillwater or other parts East, including outdoor musicals along the St. Croix River. So why not perform ON the river?! And Agatha Christie's
Murder on the Nile (her own adaptation of her novel
Death on the Nile) is the perfect choice for this floating theatrical experience. The entire play takes place on a riverboat, and we're actually on a riverboat - it doesn't get much more site-specific than that.
Murder on the Nile is a typical Christie play full of eccentric characters, many of them suspicious, a clever detective (of sorts), and a surprise ending that makes perfect sense as it clicks into place. Seating is limited on the main floor of the
Jubilee II (buffet dinner and cash bar upstairs, as with an open deck above), so most performances have already sold out.
But there are a few tickets remaining for the final performance in Stillwater on October 18, as well as the following weekend in St. Paul on the Padelford Riverboats. It would be a fun murder mystery play in any location, but the site-specific setting makes it even better. But please remember, if you're seeing theater on a boat, it's still the theater, not a night out at a bar with friends, and you should act accordingly!
 |
dinner and a show on a boat
(photo credit: @cherryandspoon) |
As we're finishing our dinner, seated at tables on the main floor of the boat, the story begins. We meet all of the characters as they set sail on this cruise on the Nile - the wealthy and eccentric Helen ffoliot-ffoulkes (yes, that's how she insists on spelling her name, played by the always delightful Peggy O'Connell) and her Scottish niece/servant Christina (Abby Slater); newlyweds Kay (Amy Eckberg) and Simon (Alex Galick); Kay's uncle and Canon (like a priest) Pennefather (Charles Fraser), who may or may not have known that she would be on the cruise; a charming young man named Smith (Elijah Leer), who has an interest in Christina; Kay's loyal (or is she?) servant Louise (Mackenzie Diggins); the good Dr. Bessner (Patrick O'Brien), always helpful when there's a murder on board; and (gasp!) Simon's jealous ex-fiance, and Kay's former BFF, Jacqueline (Maya Pantanowitz), who keeps showing up on the honeymoon at points along the way. There's enough drama just in those character descriptions to set the scene for murder and mayhem. By intermission everyone is still alive, although a gun has been fired, but suffice it to say not everyone is going to survive this dinner cruise. As usual there are many suspects, but eventually the truth is revealed in an entirely satisfactory way.
Calyssa Hall directs the play and does a good job with the use of the space, and setting that dramatic (and sometimes comedic) tone. The cast is fantastic in inhabiting their characters, and staying in character, no matter what is going on around them (it shouldn't need to be said, but please don't talk back to the actors when you're at the theater, even if it is on a boat). It's really fun to watch everyone up close and personal as they walk all around you. It's also really fun to get a close up view of these gorgeous costumes, particularly the women's vintage gowns and accessories, which are stunning, and they change from one stunning gown to the next multiple times throughout the evening.
 |
| all aboard the Jubilee II (photo credit: @cherryandspoon) |
Act I was an experience of active listening, with the boat's motors powering us up the river, and some obnoxious audience members that I alluded to earlier. But that just made me lean in closer to hear the actors, who are miked. Act II was better as we floated back down the river, and the audience seemed to have settled in (or stayed upstairs). By the time we were docked back in Stillwater, the murderer was revealed and arrested, and we were free to disembark from the boat and the immersive murder mystery.
If you're lucky enough to have tickets, I recommend getting there even earlier than you think you need to, to find parking, enjoy charming downtown Stillwater, and check in to the boat and get dinner and drinks. Then it's all aboard for murder!
