Professor Hemlock’s Mansion Soiree

100% what the person below said. There is certainly no «haunted mansion», there aren’t even sets, its just three empty rooms with some plastic tables in one and fake books in another. No discernible plot. The whole thing felt like it was being made up on the spot by a bunch of college theatre kids in cheap costumes from Ricky’s shouting over each other for two unbearable hours. It managed to be simultaneously totally chaotic and unbelievably dull.

Oh where to start… I’ll just copy the emails my friend and I sent asking for refunds after this utter waste of time.
1. I attended today’s 11:30 am performance (8÷29÷15) of Professor Hemlock’s Mansion Soirée. The show that supposedly had doors open one hour before performance kept us waiting outside for at least 20 minutes after the 11:30 start time. The actors stumbled on their lines, the rooms were bare and undecorated [I mean this literally, there were a few chairs and that was it, the rooms were EMPTY], the murder mystery was incoherent, and opening up three rooms and calling it «exploring a mansion» is stretching it. To put it kindly, this was an unprofessional and amateur production.
2. I attended the 11:30 am performance (8÷29÷15) of Professor Hemlock’s Mansion Soirée. The show that supposedly had doors open one hour before performance kept me waiting outside for an hour. The delay prevented me from staying for the entire performance. I would suggest for your next performance you hire actors who can recite their lines fluently, and the dancers should know dances other than the Charleston. For an interactive /​immersive experience, the actors must be more knowledgeable than your typical play, because the audience (which tends to be discerning) is also varied and specific, which means there is a greater chance the audience will know the genre and setting of the period equally as well as the actors. Plan accordingly. That said, congratulations to the crystal ball actress, who was the most convincing and captivating actress there, and shame on the two males in suits wandering around attempting to usher people in/​out of the rooms — utterly unconvincing and in some instances disrespectful.
~
The performance went like this: you came in, mingled in the three opens rooms that contained 1) two «magicians» (simple tricks you’ve seen before), 2) a fortune teller and a tarot card reader sitting at cheap fold up tables (I suspect both were actresses and not actual psychics, which would have been really awesome actually), 3) Michael Arenella and the Dreamland Orchestra (the ONLY worthwhile bit, because they’re amazing) and some dancing girls in cheap 1920’s costumes. After finding out rather quickly that there is very little to do and attempting to chat with various costumed actors walking around, the murder mystery starts. You are then herded like cattle from room to room in order for the cast to play out the next scene with audience «participation,» which basically amounts to nothing since nothing the audience says alters anything in the performance. The rooms were far too crowded and I couldn’t see anything nor hear very well. As we were herded into the last room, my group of six people decided to ditch so I’ll never know how it ended, but then again I didn’t know how it began either.
I received an email back from a person I am assuming to be Shane Logue, the creator, stating: «We will offer you a Free drink ticket next time and assure you will have a better experience.» Um, why would I want to come back to a show so bad I walked out before it ended because brunch was a more exciting alternative? Also, I’m assuming they have no liquor license as their «drinks» were sparkling cider and water. Obviously, no refund was forthcoming (or even an apology; I wouldn’t have been nearly as ticked off with an apology and acknowledgement of how awful the performance was) and so here I am warning my fellow immersive theatre junkies away from this. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of off-​off Broadway garbage but this show ticked me off in a special way due to the extra special low quality I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing production, especially the way the creator was going off about his MFA from the «prestigious» Tisch NYU. I don’t care that this was the first performance, it was embarrassing and clearly under-​rehearsed, under-​funded, and lacked creativity and originality. I’m trying to think of a way this could have been salvaged, all I’m coming up with if this had been advertised as a rehearsal or previews, and audience members contributed a small donation in order to give feedback and critique the performance.
So Shane, buddy, congrats, not as bad as The Perfect Crime, but nearly there!
ETA: My complaint on their facebook page was removed. Just wanted to add that. Really great business practice, Shane Logue.