Dinner and a Show

Help solve ‘The Pink Flamingo Murders of 1933’ at the Centre Bridge Inn.

By: Susan Van Dongen

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Jerry Lyden also stars in and is co-author, director and producer of the murder-mystery/comedy, opening in New Hope, Pa., Jan. 7.


   War overseas, gangs shooting it out in the streets, economic woes — how do you cope?
   We might take a tip from our elders who grew up in the 1930s and went through similar circumstances. Except, in addition to all these troubles, they couldn’t relax with a nice Pinot Grigio or a martini, thanks to Prohibition.
   That’s why speakeasies got to be so popular — and notorious. Problems seemed to vanish behind the little doors with secret passwords, where private parties rocked with hot jazz and cold bathtub gin.
   A couple of creative folks from the area are reviving the lighter side of those days, with The Pink Flamingo Murders of 1933, a murder-mystery/comedy playing at the Centre Bridge Inn in New Hope, Pa.
   "It was a marvelous period, but there were a lot of bad things going on too," says Jerry Lyden, co-author, director and producer of play. "It was a tough time for everybody. So when people got a chance to cut loose, in a speakeasy for example, they had a good time. They played hard."
   Together with his wife, Nancy Nicholson, Mr. Lyden wrote the interactive play, a hit in dinner theaters in its first incarnation. Opening Jan. 7, Pink Flamingo Murders runs Friday nights at the acclaimed restaurant. Mr. Lyden says the run is open-ended and if things go as planned, the show could become a fun Friday destination in Bucks County.
   The audience is invited to dress 1930s-style — cigarette holders and spit curls for the ladies, pin stripes and Fedoras for the men — mingle with mobsters and solve a murder.
   "When you walk in the door, you come through the curtain and you’re in 1933, near the end of Prohibition," Mr. Lyden says. "For example, your first round of drinks will be served in coffee cups, because during Prohibition you’d never know when the cops were going to show up."
   The setting is the Pink Flamingo Room, run by nightclub owner Blackie Schwartz, who caters to the Italian and Irish mobs. The evening comes complete with entertainment supplied by Brandy LeCoeur, a talented chanteuse but foolish young woman, who is apparently dating two men — Tony Testosterone, the head of the Italian mob, and Tommy O’Toole, the Irish don.
   "Things usually go smoothly at the Pink Flamingo, except on this particular night," Mr. Lyden says. "Both the Irish and the Italian mobs have shown up to celebrate Brandy’s birthday, so there’s some friction."
   During the course of the evening, sparks fly and soon there’s a murder to be solved. The audience is invited to help. They’re also encouraged to be Irish or Italian for the evening.
   "We give out guest roles that contain a little bit of information, and you improvise after that," Mr. Lyden says. "Guests can participate as much or as little as they choose, which includes just sitting back and watching the show. We invite all our guests to dress in period costume and we give out prizes for the best costume and the best actors. Then at the end everyone is invited to solve the crime."
   Mr. Lyden says the show takes a little artistic license and incorporates the Centre Bridge Inn into the plot.
   "Since it’s on the canal, we point out that the bootleg booze coming in has been shipped down the canal from Buffalo," he says.
   Pink Flamingo Murders first ran in California in 1991, and is just one of a number of plays Mr. Lyden and Ms. Nicholson have written. Veterans of dinner theater, they noticed the lack of production values in shows they were in and vowed to make a difference.
   "We have a formula," he says. "I write the plot and Nancy writes the characters. She does a great job creating these over-the-top characters with funny names. Then we fight like cats and dogs as to how to put them together. But eventually we smooth things out and have a great show."
   Mr. Lyden, a noted film and TV actor, is featured as the Italian gang leader. Audiences might recognize him from his guest roles on Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, as "The Don" in a series of Budweiser commercials, and in a small part in Goodfellas.
   He was only in one scene in the Martin Scorsese film, but was singled out by the director to play the cop who tastes the heroin the lead character, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), is busted with.
   "My character gives this nasty, grinning leer and it’s the moment that Henry Hill knows he’s had it," Mr. Lyden says. "That was the last time I ever worked as an extra. Since then I’ve always had principal roles, including guest starring on ‘Homicide’ as a Russian former KGB agent. That was great."
   He was also cast as a shady Russian character in the upcoming film Cyriana with George Clooney, about the CIA’s involvement with oil cartels. Mr. Lyden has about four or five pages of dialogue, all in Russian, which drew upon foreign-language skills he learned as a student at Princeton High School.
   "I had to reach back about 40 years," he says. "I haven’t had much opportunity to used spoken Russian and I was a bit rusty. But according to native Russians I’ve talked to, I have a very good Muscovite accent."
   Pink Flamingo Murders also has run in New York and Philadelphia, and will be opening at a new venue in Elmira, N.Y., in February. Mr. Lyden is especially optimistic about the Bucks County production, and senses a lot of camaraderie in the professional cast.
   "The only people I will hire as actors have to be, in my estimation, off-Broadway quality," Mr. Lyden says. "We have some great local talent — it’s a seamless group with wonderful chemistry, which is good. Because even though there are two lead roles, ‘Pink Flamingo Murders’ really is an ensemble piece. The ‘theater gods’ have smiled on us. As we say, ‘The pink bird is rising.’"
The Pink Flamingo Murders of 1933 opens at the Centre Bridge Inn, 2998 N. River Road, New Hope, Pa., Jan. 7, and runs Fridays at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $75, including dinner. Reservations and 1930s-style attire are encouraged. For information, call (215) 862-2048. On the Web: www.centrebridgeinn.com