Dinner and a Show? Why it's Elementary!

With its location on the same block as three major theaters, Stage Left Restaurant is a popular spot for the dinner-and-show crowd. And now the show is coming to Stage Left.

On July 7, the restaurant will present a dinner theater presentation, featuring a radio play adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Final Problem.” Following the performance will be a menu that Holmes and Watson themselves might have enjoyed.

The presentation came about when Francis P. Schott, a co-owner of Stage Left, and Alex Dawson, owner of Raconteur Books and a producer of live radio plays through Raconteur Radio, saw the Holmes story as a perfect fit for Stage Left.

“Alex is a theater professional who enjoys restaurants and I’m a restaurant professional who enjoys theater,” Schott says. “I think there’s a bit of theater in restaurants. I tell this to my staff all the time, people don’t come to us to fuel up, they come to us for an experience.”

“The Final Problem” is a legendary Holmes story because Arthur Conan Doyle intended it to be the last until public pressure led him to bringing the famed detective back. The story involves Holmes seeking Watson’s help as he pursues Professor Moriarty and narrowly escaping death in the process until a confrontation between the hero and villain atop Reichenbach Falls.

“In many ways it was the easiest and most difficult to translate to the radio play format,” says Dawson, who wrote the adaptation. “Because while there’s not a lot of characters, that means there’s not a lot of back-and-forth so the exposition in the story had to be chopped up and distributed among the few characters that were included in the story to make it (fewer) long blocks of narrative and more conversational and dramatic.”

In order to create an old-time radio atmosphere, Dawson has actors talking into an old-style standup microphone. Sound will be filtered through an old amp to replicate an old-style tinny radio sound. And while this is a radio play, costumes are part of the presentation.

“We don’t elaborately stage it, of course, and definitely we’re true to the idea of a radio play in the sense that you’re giving an audience just enough to fire their imaginations,” Dawson says. “It’s perfectly acceptable if audience members in other venues close their eyes and try to imagine it.”

Dawson says the radio play format appeals to all ages. People old enough to remember when radio dramas were popular obviously enjoy them, but so do kids as young as 10 because they’re able to create the world of the story with their imaginations.

“Then there’s the novelty of it that appeals to people ages 25 to 45 who have a nostalgia for something they’ve never experienced,” he says.

Just as important as the show is the food that will be served. The evening will begin with a punch that hearkens to the Holmes era. Then the show, which is expected to run 30 to 40 mintues, will be staged, followed by dinner. The performers will be invited to dine as well, so guests may find themselves sitting next to Holmes, Watson or even Moriarty.

First course offerings are oyster pan roast, pate de foie gras, quail stuffed with black lentils and summer pea and mint soup. Choices for the main course are huffed pheasant with apple and gooseberries, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, trout with a hasty pudding, duck with onion tart, blackberry and ginger, and Scottish salmon with fingerling potatoes. Dessert options are an English trifle or a blueberry crumble.

This marks the first theatrical presentation at Stage Left (sister restaurant Catherine Lombardi has hosted some concerts). Schott says summer is an ideal time to do this because private rooms are available, whereas most of them are booked during the other seasons. It also fulfills the restaurant’s goal of remaining relevant and offering customers a new experience. 

“We’ve lost some restaurants in New Brunswick, some restaurants have closed,” Schott says. “And I think that the reason we are so strong still is that we have always done things to be part of the community. This group of people who love Stage Left, who come once in a while or come all the time, it’s not just our job to feed them, it’s our job to provide that place for them to come. It’s that place that’s not work or home where they can meet their friends or meet people they don’t know.”

“Sherlock Holmes: The Final Problem” will be performed at Stage Left, 5 Livingston Ave., on July 7. Punch will be served at 6:30 with the show starting at 6:45, followed by dinner. Show and price fix dinner costs $75 per person (tax and gratuity not included). Pre-dinner punch is include in the price, other beverages are not. To make reservations, call 732-828-4444, ext. 200.