(LAMBERTVILLE, NJ) -- Music Mountain Theatre presents Murder at Cheltenham Manor, a twisting, turning, whodunnit, where the audience gets to have input which will steer the story as we progress. The play is newly adapted for the stage, based on an original YouTube series created last spring during quarantine.  The production premieres on June 11th and runs for nine performances ending on June 27th.

The play takes place during a lovely Spring Weekend in 1919 in a beautiful Manor house in the English countryside. A family composed of adversarial pedigree, salacious secrets, deception, duplicity and ultimately, death. A cantankerous father, a doting mother, the heir apparent, two daughters at odds since birth, an actress, a drunkard, a foreigner, a lady’s maid, chauffeur, gardener and of course a butler. Thirteen persons of interest, one may be guilty of murder, all will be guilty of something.

Tickets are available for purchase online or by calling (609) 397-3337. Show times are Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm.  Music Mountain Theatre continues to remain committed to their mission to enrich educate, and entertain the community and keep the arts alive during this difficult time.  The Theatre strives to provide a safe environment for all with rigorous cleaning procedures and more recently, the installation of state-of-the-art air scrubbers to increase indoor air quality and reduce contaminants. 

Last spring while in quarantine, Louis Palena, one of Music Mountain Theatre's Artistic Directors came up with the idea to write a murder mystery as a means to keep theatre alive.  After gathering some willing theatre regulars, the process began. The show was written episodically and aired on the company's YouTube channel.

Since it was happening during lockdown, Louis enlisted the help of his good friend Damian Bartolacci to do the film editing and play the Inspector. Each week the cast would be sent the script and asked to have their self-taped footage ready for editing by Thursday of the same week. The cast would also pick up or receive  costumes or prop pieces needed to maintain continuity in the story. There was also extra fun for the viewers in the form of a vote that was taken at the end of each episode. The winning vote was written into the episode for the following week.

While the story remains basically the same as the series, many changes were needed to make this stage adaptation possible.  The latest incarnation of the mystery will still have audience participation as they will get to choose the murderer at each performance!  It has been an interesting journey for this new original piece of theatre. Music Mountain Theatre invites you to take the journey with them. 

Music Mountain Theatre is located at 1483 RT 179 in Lambertville, New Jersey.