‘Death by Chocolate’

A shot rings out in the dark. A man is found dead.

The butler places a gun in the dead man’s hand to make it look like suicide, then disappears.

Director Greg Whitney is not giving away the ending, so he will not say whether the butler did it. But if you liked Neil Simon’s “Murder by Death,” chances are you’ll want to see “Death by Chocolate.”

Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne (7829 Main St., downtown Houma) is staging Paul Freed’s mystery-comedy from Thursday, Sept. 18, to Sunday, Sept. 28, except for Monday, Sept. 22. All weekday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. Sundays are at 2 p.m. The theatre is staging a show also at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Freed’s play is partly a send-up of traditional murder-mystery comedies (one character is a mystery author writing a play called “Death by Chocolate”) with an eccentric cast. Freed does stick to one convention, though: The murderer will be a surprise.

“It’s a run for the money as far as who gets the most laughs,” said Whitney, who is directing his eighth production for the theater. “There are plays on words and puns.”

“In the first act, people are killed,” he said. “It sets the tone of the play. In the second act, they try to solve the mystery.”

In the play, the Meadowbrook Health Resort has come under new management following the aforementioned demise of its founder (Steve Duplantis).

Then, a couple of members of the resort staff kick the bucket after eating poisoned chocolate, and the new manager (Frank Davis) attempts to find out who did them in with the aid of the mystery writer (Joel Waldron).

Much of the comedy comes from the wacky characters making up the resort staff. Nearly all the cast members are Le Petit veterans.

One focus of attention will no doubt be energetic Dick Simmering (Reggie Pontiff), a Richard Simmons knockoff.

Others will be fussy weightlifter Ralph Deadwood (Edward Schilling), who lives up to his last name; ex-call girl, now doyenne of the chocolate world and resort owner Lady Riverdale (Janet Owens); the late owner’s daughter, Sweetpea Meadowbrook (Sue Peace), who gives out her lines while shoveling in the goodies, and chef Edith Chiles (or is it Julia Child?), played by Jeanne Scott.

Also in the cast are Lisa Cunningham, Ed Ruiz, Lydia Voight and Toni Hicks.

Call Le Petit at (985) 876-4278 for more information.

Le Petit Theatre de Terrebonne is presenting Paul Freed’s mystery-comedy “Death by Chocolate this month in Houma.