Review: MURDER DOWN THE AISLE at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre

Featuring Kiana Raine Cintron as the bride, Katie Darling, and Cooper Stone as the groom, Ben Wolowitz, the show follows a wedding that goes terribly wrong when someone drops dead during the ceremony. Everyone becomes a suspect; the other cast members and characters include Cameron Rogers as Todd Chaderton/Ronald Paisley, Steffen Whorton as the Wedding Planner, Shannon Connolly as Naomi Wolowitz, the mother of the groom, Chris Durso as Rusty Naylor, the wedding pianist, Brad Chidester as Paddy O'Chair, a drunk priest, and Danica Murray as Taylor Switz, one of the bridesmaids (who is notably NOT the maid of honor). This is a really fun cast of characters, and each actor portrays their respective character well. They were over the top in the best way; they interacted with the audience as we arrived and sat down, joining us at our tables to talk about the wedding. This was really fun and a good way to get to know the characters before the main action started.

Some of my most favorite moments of the show were the lines the characters would mumble (I presume these were improv) when they were off on the sides of the room while the main action was happening in the center of the room. We were lucky to have Steffen Whorton as the Wedding Planner nearby us for many of those moments, and his comments were absolutely hilarious. He definitely stood out as one of my favorite characters in the show.

The show worked in courses; as you arrived, you received a salad and the pre-show interaction began. Then, after the first act, they took a break and you received dinner. Once all of the characters were interrogated and their motives laid out, they took another break for dessert, also giving you a moment to fill out a paper with your guesses of the killer and murder weapon. I enjoyed this format and thought it gave you the chance to discuss the mystery with your table companion(s). During each break, service was incredibly quick; nobody was sitting waiting for their food long, which was nice.

This production was written by Rachael Lord, directed by Paul Bernier, and featured costume design by Rose Ella McCleary. I thought it was a really fun production with some cultural and song references that I appreciated.