Audition Notice: Desiderio's

Desiderio’s Dinner Theatre is auditioning actors for an upcoming production of “An Old-Fashioned Family Murder” by Joe DiPietro.

Described as “an impromptu reading of sides,” the audition is scheduled for Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 4 p.m. at Bobby J’s, 204 Como Park Blvd. in Cheektowaga.

Actors who are interested in any of the available roles should text or email Jay Desiderio at 716-713-7785 or jaydesi47@yahoo.com . Jay stresses that he's always interested in new talent.

Performance dates are projected to be June 18 to August 30, 2026

The roles to be cast are:

• Detective Paul Peck, thirties or forties. Devoted son of Shirley (Shirley is already cast). An earnest yet rather unsuccessful detective.

• Arthur Whittington, middle-aged. A world-renowned writer of murder mysteries. Also, a proud snob. He speaks with a very affected English accent, though he’s probably from Missouri.

• Clarice Claythorne, twenties or early thirties. Dazzling and glamorous, sharp-witted and sly. She wouldn’t be out of place in a film noire.

• Dotty Claythorne, twenties or early thirties. Modest and soft-spoken, excited only by murder mysteries. Though young, she dresses like a Victorian widow.

• Jasper Jamison, twenties or early thirties. Clarice’s fiancé. Handsome and dim, he looks fantastic in a swimsuit.

“An Old-Fashioned Family Murder,” premiered in 2024 at New Theatre & Restaurant in Overland Park, Kansas, in a production starring Sally Struthers as Shirley Peck, and was later presented at the George Street Playhouse, again starring Struthers. A witty spoof of the classic drawing‑room whodunit: on a dark and stormy night at a once‑grand estate, a pompous mystery writer exposes a family secret, someone ends up dead, and every eccentric relative becomes a suspect as secrets, betrayals, and alibis unravel with plenty of laughs.

Joe DiPietro is a Tony Award–winning playwright and lyricist whose Broadway credits include the musical “Memphis,” the Gershwin hit “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” the Elvis jukebox musical “All Shook Up,” and the comedy “Living on Love”; his many other plays and musicals include the long‑running off‑Broadway revue “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” the comedy “Over the River and Through the Woods,” the mystery “Art of Murder,” the gay adaptation of “La Ronde” called “Fucking Men,” and the musicals “The Toxic Avenger,” “The Thing About Men,” “The Last Romance,” “Creating Claire,” and “Clever Little Lies,” among others.