EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND — Okay, yes, I admit it, I chose this one out of pure nostalgia. Many evenings in the 1980s were spent sitting with my mother on our old couch or rocking loveseat with a bowl of buttery popcorn waiting for that familiar music that meant it was time to solve a mystery with Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher. I lost my mom last year and have even been nostalgic enough that I procured the sheet music to the opening theme of Murder She Wrote on the piano. Therefore, when I saw in the Edinburgh Fringe line up Solve Along A Murder She Wrote, I found a way to put it in my schedule.
Hosted by Tim Benzie, this evening is a pure delight for anyone who has ever enjoyed this show. Tim comes out on stage dressed in a Jessica jogging suit and has a few perfect costume changes throughout the evening, each more Jessica than the last. In perfect fashion he guides us through an episode, which apparently he prepares different episodes for different performances. The episode the night I attended was Paint Me a Murder.
With the show on projection, Benzie has the perfect blend of stops and starts where he adds some jovial education on the show and helps as we as an audience team solve the mystery together.
Some of my favorites were to first rank the guest stars by fame, which put this episode’s Cesar Romero and Robert Goulet up at the top. Because some of the audience do not know all of the stars, Benzie came prepared with clips to help people know where these people made their fame.
Benzie also had audience props where we could raise suspicions and show our enthusiasm for clues. He also had signs to warn us about bad art and cheesy 80s costuming. He even had found some 80s commercials to play during his costume change. The amount of memories that came flooding into my brain as he was performing was breathtaking for me.
Benzie had the audience laughing out loud, voting to predict the murderer (and asking those of us who had seen the episode numerous times to just nod knowingly) and sharing joyous affection for the talent that is Angela Lansbury. Benzie ended with a sing along because he has written lyrics to the iconic theme song, and I truly, truly need to get access to those lyrics so that when I am playing on my piano alone in my living room I can sing to my heart’s content. While it did make me miss my mom a great deal, it was a welcome and needed break from the hustle and bustle of the fringe.
