Happy birthday, Master Mystery Productions! The saying goes that “hindsight is 2020.” Looking back will give you a new and clearer perspective on everything. Well, with next year being 2020 AND our fifth birthday, MMP decided to do something very special. For the first time in our history, we’re going to revive a classic Master Mystery Production! And we want your help to decide which show it will be!

Here’s how it will work: Three past Master Mystery Productions are up for revival. Read the descriptions below to get a better feel for each show and its potential revival. Then click on the ballot link below or at the bottom of this post and cast your vote for your favorite. All votes are anonymous and require no personal information. We just want your say. You can also vote by commenting on this blog post or on any public posts of this blog post. Voting ends October 1, 2019. If you have any questions, feel free to message us on Facebook or email us at mastermysteryproductions@hotmail.com.

Let’s get reviving!

Hindsight Is 2020 Ballot

Time: Midsummer 1900

Place: Lord Walliscroft’s country house, The English Countryside

First performed in July 2016, The Last Garden Party is one of MMP’s most beloved shows. A comedic romp through Victorian England, young second wife of “the only wealthy peer left in England,” Phoebe Walliscroft, throws a garden party at their country estate to celebrate midsummer while her husband is abroad. But her eccentric and sarcastic in-laws, the mystery of the stolen Iceberg Diamond, and a body in the croquet lawn threaten to dismantle all her party preparations. With this show that blended the worlds of Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes, it created the Diamond Mask Award and started the careers of two adored MMP legends. The revival, subtitled How a Lady Keeps Her Poise Around Corpses, will introduce new characters such as Mrs. Mullet the salty housekeeper, a revised plot with a new solution, and multiple endings depending on how well the audiences deduce the murderer. The Last Garden Party will be a hilarious send-up  of the fussy aristocracy of Queen Victoria’s reign. Who knows? Maybe this time the fabled diamond will be found…

Time: Spring 1924

Place: Artist studios, the neighborhood of Montparnasse, Paris, France.

Premiering in Spring 2017, Bury Me in Paris was the first show to introduce the Diamond Mask Awards during the show’s run and the first to present multiple Skeleton Key Winners. The show took us back to the Roaring 20’s in the bohemian circle of Montparnasse in Paris, France. Artists, models, and modernist writers mingled with socialites and flappers in the sidewalk cafes. Chantal, the infamous and notorious “Madame Mustache,” who paints a mustache in makeup on her face, has written a scandalous autobiography called Bury Me in Paris…which has resulted in several letters threatening her life. When one of the bohemians is poisoned, sinister secrets set out to dim the City of Lights. Chapter Two, the revival, will introduce new and revamped characters like surrealist photographer Marco Salvador, a brand new solution to the mystery, and an even jazzier finish. Who will be buried in Paris for good?

Time: The 1940’s (During WWII and after)

Place: Simone Davenport’s house, England on the Home Front

July 2017 saw the premiere of Ode to Agatha as a massive, sold-out success. Styled as a church fete where patrons played classic Agatha Christie-inspired games and interrogated the suspects in our homage to the Queen of Crime’s first book, the show was designed to celebrate the centennial anniversary of Hercule Poirot’s first case. The eccentric and EXTREMELY wealthy Simone Davenport is cunningly poisoned during her midsummer fete celebrating her…dubious “poetry.” Guests got a rare opportunity to question the suspects themselves and examine the strange clues left behind. In 2020, it will be exactly 100 years since Dame Agatha Christie published her first detective novel. To commemorate the occasion, we would re-stage our highly interactive murder mystery play with new characters like the crusty expert on poisons Dr. Schmidt, a newly designed plot and solution, and even more sinister games to play. Ode to Agatha: One Final Case will be an homage to both The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case, two Christie novels set in the same country house. Shall we honor the Queen of Crime one more time?

Now that you’ve read the show descriptions, you can vote for your favorite. What show do you want to see revived for our anniversary year? Click on the link below to cast your vote. We’d love to hear from you! Help us make our fifth-anniversary season something special. We can’t do it without you!

Hindsight Is 2020 Ballot

–Master Mystery Productions