The cast members of "Smokey Joe's Caf+â-¬" are not just performing during dinner, they are also serving it.
"Smokey Joe's Caf+â-¬" is a high-energy music review of songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller during the '50s and '60s. The dinner-theater performance includes a three-course meal catered by Johnny Carino's.
"The food is great and the performance is great," cast member Justin Brown said. Brown graduated in May and is performing in "Smokey Joes's Caf+â-¬" as his last Ball State University production.
The audience can enjoy a salad just after arriving. The cast members wait on the guests between trips to the buffet for the main course. After clearing the audience's dinner plates, the cast begins the show. Dessert is served at intermission.
The two-act musical review has no story line, so the audience can relax and enjoy the music. The show includes such popular hits as "Poison Ivy," "Love Potion Number Nine," "Jail House Rock" and "Stand By Me."
"I guess it's kind of like you're transported back to the '50s and '60s with the costumes, and the music and stuff," cast member Jillian Shiralli said.
The cast members are enjoying every performance of the musical review, but a lot of preparation went into making the show a hit with the audience.
"The biggest challenge was learning the material in such a short amount of time," Shiralli said. "We only had two weeks to put it all together, and there's a lot of choreography and costume changes. But once we learned it all, it came together well."
Preparing to perform 30 numbers wasn't the only challenge for the five women and four men in the show. They had to cancel the first performance because of low ticket sales, cast member Alli Miller said. According to Miller, lack of advertising led to the poor turnout in the box office.
"I think the biggest challenge is getting the word out about this dinner theater because it hasn't been around for people to know about it and pay attention to the flyers," Miller said. "We needed to advertise it better."
Ticket sales have since gone up, she said, and the audience members have enjoyed themselves so much that they've recommended the show to their friends. The actors also had to overcome personal challenges to make the show a success.
"It took me a little while to be able to break the 4th wall and look at the audience," Miller said. "It's not easier or harder, it's just a completely different performance. I like it a lot, though."
For cast member Mike Brouwer, the most difficult part was dealing with many different things at one time.
"I think the biggest challenge about the dinner theater that we're putting on is that we are involved in every aspect of it," Brouwer said. "It's hard enough to put on a show by itself just with choreography and other things that go into a performance. Now we're waiting tables and clearing silverware." Brouwer said.
The hard work appears to have paid off as the cast has had no problem selling tickets for their production which runs through July 1.
"I just like entertaining people," she said. "I like seeing the reaction on people's faces and stuff. That's why I like dinner theater because you're close to the audience. I've been dancing since I was three years old, and it's all I've ever done. I just love it, and it is what I want to do."
"So far since we've been doing this show everyone's really loved it because it's so high-energy, and everyone gets into the music," Shiralli said.
The show runs Thursday through Sunday until July 1 at Cornerstone Center for the Arts located at 520 E. Main St. in downtown Muncie. The dinner theater production was made possible through a Business Fellows project coordinated by the Career Center.
"I think the uniqueness of "Smokey Joe's Caf+â-¬" is how much everyone in the audience can relate to the music and to the characters," Miller said. "I'm performing these songs as myself, so there's nothing fake about it. Everything is very heartfelt and honest, and often you lose the ability to connect to the characters on stage."
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