Bay Street Cabaret asks you to solve a mystery — and pick the murderer and victim

There’s been a murder in Savannah, and only you can solve it.

You’re also deciding who the victim is.

The Bay Street Cabaret will be performing an immersive, original comedic murder mystery Friday and Sunday at Club One’s Bay Street Theatre. Rick Garman wrote the script and is directing “Murder at the Bay Street Cabaret.”

“We started the cabaret as sort of a traditional cabaret with people getting up in front of a microphone and singing. We added some stuff to it. Every now and then there’d be a costume or a prop or whatever, but now we’ve blown them out in these big [productions] almost like a musical where we have a script, and we have characters, and we have a set and these scenes or monologues that setup cabaret performances of various songs.

"We've done a Christmas one. We've done a Valentine's Day one. We did a Pride one recently. As you know, this one is a murder mystery.”

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The fascinating thing about “Murder at the Bay Street Cabaret” is that you could go both nights and have entirely different experiences. Cabaret, by its nature, is a very fluid form of performance art that depends on the energy of the audience. Bay Street Cabaret is getting even more unpredictable with a script that requires the audience to pick the performers’ roles each night.

“During the first act, you're going to get to meet all of the people involved via a podcast [in the script] that is being done,” said Garman.

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During this podcast setup, the audience will be introduced to the leading lady and man, the ingénue, the femme fatale, the stage manager, the producer, and other characters. There will be performances of Broadway songs such as “Money, Money” from Cabaret, “Schadenfreude” from Avenue Q, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, “Whatever Lola Wants” from Damn Yankees, and “Luck Be a Lady” from Guys and Dolls. These songs add to the introductions of each character and give you a look into who they are.

At intermission, the audience will vote for who they think should be the victim and who should be the murderer. That makes the second act very interesting since all the performers have to be prepared to be the murderer, dead or continue playing their regular characters.

“It's a silly, funny, campy show,” said Garman. “Our Pride show was heavy in a lot of places. There were a lot of tears during that show. We wanted to do something this time very light, very funny. If you've ever seen the movie ‘Clue’ or the movie ‘Murder by Death,’ that’s the kind of a feeling you’re getting [from this show.] Just a big, silly murder.”

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Club One’s Bay Street Theatre will transform for Bay Street Cabaret’s two-night murder mystery performance. There will be special seat covers and lights as well as murder-themed cocktails to immerse the audience in the theme.

Fans of Bay Street Cabaret will recognize some familiar faces as well as meet new ones in the cast: Damon Banks Jr., Travis Harold Coles, Hannah Dodson, Cami Nicole Hall, Carman iCandy, Valerie America Lavelle, Gwen Leahy, Rayshawn Roberts, and Sallie Just Sallie.

Tickets for “Murder at the Bay Street Cabaret” are between $20 and $30 and can be purchased through baystreetcabaret.com. Attendees must be 21 or older.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA events: Murder mystery at the Bay Street Cabaret