‘The Case of the Malted Falcon’

Private eye Sam Club hunts for big chocolate bird

The Colonnade Players are putting on a mystery dinner show this weekend that manages to spoof film noir, TV chefs, art aficionados and chocoholics — all within two hours.

“The Case of the Malted Falcon,” a parody of the Humphrey Bogart classic “The Maltese Falcon,” will be presented Friday and Saturday nights, June 18-19, at the Colonnade in Ringgold, Ga. The $22 ticket includes a buffet dinner and comedic theatrical production.

Private eye Sam Club — Get it? Bogart was Sam Spade — has been hired to guard a priceless chocolate sculpture, the Malted Falcon, on its train ride from Ringgold to New York City, where it is to be displayed at the Gallery of Amazingly Great Art (GAGA). Along the way, Club gets clubbed and the bird is stolen while he’s knocked out.

The private eye has to search for clues among a flighty cast of characters: Rachael Raven, TV chef and cookbook author; Robin Hawkins, heir to the chocolate sculpture; Abigail Nightingale, bird activist; and Harvey Featherby, fake falconer.

He’s ineptly assisted by ditsy secretary Velma Vavoomsky. Rounding out the cast is engineer Casey Stourbridge and Ms. Marbles, amateur sleuth and mystery novelist who also emcees the show.

Theatergoers will want to keep their eyes and ears open because prizes will be awarded to the first people who correctly guess the murderer and motive.

Director Jan Daigle says this is the second mystery theater the Colonnade Players have presented, and she thinks this show is even funnier than the first, which sold out both nights.

Doors open at 6:45 each night. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. and the show will begin once everyone is seated. The dinner, catered by Double Portions, features a loaded potato bar, chicken and barbecue pork, salad, rolls, drink and dessert. Daigle says the reservation deadline is the day before each show in order to give correct numbers to the caterer.

For reservations, call 706-935-9000.