A new dinner-theater murder mystery is running at Vitello’s in Studio City, the same restaurant where Bonny Lee Bakley was fatally shot in 2001. The show is called“A Killer Night in Studio City,”it opened September 15, tickets run $145, and it’s directed by and starring Noah Blake, son of Robert Blake. Robert Blake was acquitted of his wife’s murder in 2005 and later found liable in a civil case.
Noah’s sister Rose Lenore Blake, Bonny’s daughter, went public asking followers to shut the production down, calling it distasteful. She now says she’s backing off after alleging Noah threatened to expose her past struggles to the press if she continued speaking out. Noah’s representative says the play is entirely fictional, has no connection to real events, and that Rose hasn’t seen it. Noah says staging it at Vitello’s is intentional and part of his healing process.
The whole thing raises a question that doesn’t have a clean answer: when does a creative project about trauma become a public event built on someone else’s pain? Two siblings, one story, two completely different versions of what’s okay. And an audience deciding whether to buy in.
Would you go see it? Sound off in the comments.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.