Complete with Old Hollywood glam and murder mystery, Perry’s The Muse Theatre reawakens

After months of renovation costing nearly $600,000, The Muse Theatre in downtown Perry is nearing its debut as a performance and event venue.

In 1950, The Muse Theatre opened its doors at 806 Commerce St. with the musical comedy, “Nancy Goes to Rio” starring Jane Powell, Ann Southern and Carmen Miranda.

The movie house with its red vinyl seats and Juliette balconies once showed films daily, adding a matinee on the weekends. After closing its doors in the late ‘70s, it sat empty until it was used for storage space in 2004.

A 2012 fundraising effort to revive the old movie house failed. It operated as an antique mall from 2013 to 2018.

In 2019, Houston County developers Chad Bryant and Marty McLeod stepped in, purchasing the building constructed in 1949 for $400,000 and breathing new life into it.

Now, 71 years since it first opened, The Muse Theatre has been reborn.

Its first event, a murder mystery dinner theater, takes center stage in late October complete with a champagne toast and guests invited to dress up as their favorite Old Hollywood star or starlet.

Set in 1950 Old Hollywood at an Academy Awards after party, the murder mystery is expected to prove to be the perfect event to showcase the renovated venue with its Old Hollywood glam art deco of black and gold and lots of crystals.

‘Murder at The Muse Theatre’

In 2014, Tyler Bryant and Nicole Bissette started organizing Middle Georgia actors and producing murder mysteries to raise funds for the Museum of Aviation and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, which is housed at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins.

The popular, annual productions written by Bryant and performed by volunteers always sold out.

In 2018, they formed Murder with Friends Entertainment. Bryant, a social media strategist, is brother to The Muse Theatre co-owner Chad Bryant. Tyler Bryant also handles marketing for The Muse Theatre and is a former public relations and marketing specialist for the Museum of Aviation Foundation.

In its first year, Murder with Friends Entertainment offered up “Murder at the Deadwood Salon — Again,” a repeat of an earlier show but with a whole new story line but the same characters. The murder mystery was performed at the Perry Players Community Theatre.

In 2019, they produced another hit, “Get a Clue,” which was inspired by the classic board game and performed at the Perry Events Center.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic preempted their annual murder mystery performance. But they did an improv and music show fundraiser for Penny Stapleton, Daisy Patch Flowers owner, who’s battling cancer. The cancer is now in remission, Bryant said.

Now “Murder at The Muse Theatre” is set to open. Bryant’s wife, Shannon, joins him this year in the role of second director.

“The best thing about our shows that really stands out is I write how the murder happens; I write who’s the victim, how it wraps up, you know, when you find out who the murderer is. But everything else from then on is almost 99% improv, I would say, which is really fun for my actors because they get to pick a character that I’ve written for them and make it their own,” Bryant said.

“No copyright issues. They can make their character as much as they want to make it or as little they want to make it, and you know actors, they like to ham it up, so it’s a lot of fun for them to do that kind of stuff.”

Theater-goers can expect no less when “Murder at the Muse Theatre” opens Oct. 28 and runs for five more performances on Oct. 29 and 30 and Nov. 4, 5 and 6. Doors open at The Muse Theatre at 6:30pm. Tickets may be purchased online via Facebook. No tickets will be sold at the door.

“All kinds of things you are going to get with your ticket,” Bryant said. “Not only are you going to get to see a murder mystery, you’re going to get a great meal, great dessert, cash bar, champagne included with your meal and two hours of entertainment. Where else can you do that for $50?”

Sales went live a week ago Thursday.

Metamorphosis of The Muse Theatre

Nearly complete, The Muse Theatre is in its final six weeks of transformation, said Courtney Bryant, events coordinator for the venue and wife of Chad Bryant.

“It’s been the most fun because we’re handling it like a family project. His sister has been doing all the finances and Chad has been doing all the architectural and engineering aspects and I’ve been doing all the design,” Courtney Bryant said. “And then Tyler has been heading up the marketing, and he’s doing the first event there. It’s just been a whole family affair. Then of course, Marty (McLeod) is the brute force of it. He’s the one who gets in there and does the heavy lifting.”

In addition to their contractor, Courtney and Chad Bryant have been doing a lot of the renovation themselves.

“It seems like every single weekend, we’re out there laying tile or painting trim. Tyler comes and tells us what to do and what will look better,” Courtney Bryant said.

Among the renovation projects the couple did themselves was the original marquee.

“It was a find. We thought it had been destroyed or thrown away but we were actually able to salvage it,” she said. “It took a lot of Bondo and paint but we’ve got it back up now and it’s really awesome to have this marquee from 1950 on our building.”

When The Muse Theatre opened in 1950, it had permanent seating just like a typical movie theater. Since all the original seating had been removed, they left it that way, which also works better for a multi-function facility, Bryant said.

“With the aesthetics of the building because it was originally set up for a theater, we thought it would be great to kind of bring it back to its roots and turn it back into a theater and kind of leave that same layout,” she said.

“There won’t be any permanent seating but we’ll just have 150 indoor chairs and 150 outdoor chairs. So, we can have weddings, concerts or plays or even show movies there.”

The now 7,700 square-foot venue, which included the addition of a catering kitchen, can hold a standing-room-only crowd of up to 650 people. The seating is versatile to events as well as the COVID-19 pandemic with a seating of 150 tables easily accommodating 6-foot-social distancing, Bryant said.

“We decided to keep the original theme and we kind of took it back to that art deco scene,” Bryant said. “So, it’s very like Gatsby on the inside, which is a little bit prior to 1950 but a lot of the elements in the theater itself kind of lent itself to keeping with that art deco theme.”

The Muse Theatre has three levels. The main level is the ballroom level. A second level on the front of the building serves as the bridal suite, which is an addition to the building.

“It will have makeup vanities, its own designated bathroom and a seating area,” Bryant said.

The third level above the bridal area is the mezzanine, or the balcony area, and it’s original to the building, she said.

Serving like an overflow area, the balcony will have stools and bistro tables.

“We decided to keep the original pine flooring, so we’ve sanded them down and refinished them,” she said.

Also intact are the original Juliette balconies overlooking the large stage, which is perfect for theatrical performances and could host a large band, Bryant said.

A building was added to the venue to house the catering kitchen as well as large women’s and men’s restrooms that “are going to be very eloquent and glamorous with gold and carrara marble and crystal,” she said.

There’s also small backstage areas to the left and right of the stage where a band can set up and get ready for a performance, she said.

“All the space we’ve utilized,” Bryant said. “We’ve tried to think of everything: what a band would need or what a bridal party would need?”

Additionally, they’ve added a 4,000-square-foot outdoor green space area.

“It will be a very large green space with brick fencing all the way around and then there will be lots of landscaping and a pergola for a band to set up under, or if a bride wants to get married under the pergola, we’ve got that there going in as well,” Bryant said.

There will also be an outdoor bar area.

Old Hollywood glam

The second event lined up for The Muse Theatre after the murder mystery is a wedding.

“The bride and groom are movie buffs, the husband is in production, so the theme of the building lines up perfectly with their wedding,” Bryant said. “They’ve got like an old movie poster as their wedding announcement. So, it’s going to be super cool to see their decorations and their designs inside the building in a wedding.”

How would you describe The Muse Theatre’s event space?

“It’s 1950s glam art deco, black and gold, lots of crystals — just old Hollywood glamour I think would be a good way to describe it,” Bryant said.

Because of the pandemic, Bryant said she ordered all of the fixtures and furniture well in advance to make sure everything was on hand in time.

“It’s like waiting for Christmas because I’ve got all these boxes to open and they’re like little presents and I can’t open them up until it’s time for the next thing — time for the fixtures,” Bryant said. “I’m very, very excited that it’s getting closer to the end now and I can start putting my touches on everything.”

While her husband focused on the structural aspects of the building, Bryant was tasked with the interior work from picking the colors, the vanities “and all those little things.”

Often on site working, the Bryants haven’t minded the interruptions from people passing by curious about what’s going on inside. The couple has heard lots of wonderful stories from residents who recalled various experiences and fun times at the original theater, Courtney Bryant said.

“It’s a building that Chad has had his eye on for a long time,” she said. “He saw the potential in the building and knew that it could be really great and a cool, added venue to downtown. Marty got on board.

“The transformation has been incredible, especially in the last week or two just seeing the finishing touches going up now. It’s just really been a lot of fun.”