Santa Claus
Employer.
Under investigation.
An Interactive Musical-Comedy Police-Procedural Mystery
Slay Ride IVCSI North Pole
Elfish Prezley
Chief of Staff.
Extreme efficiency.
Rudolph
Shop steward.
Celebrity. Deceased.
Joe Friedegg
Government agent.
By the book.
Frank Cannon
Partner.
Wants a gun.
Santa Claus
Employer. Under investigation.
Elfish Prezley
Chief of Staff. Extreme efficiency.
Rudolph
Shop steward. Celebrity. Deceased.
Joe Friedegg
Government agent. By the book.
Frank Cannon
Partner. Wants a gun.
This is the City. The North Pole.— Joe Friedegg
The Case
One labor dispute. Two government agents. Twelve clues. One dead reindeer.
Christmas Eve finds Santa Claus locked in a labor dispute with Rudolph, the North Pole’s newly appointed reindeer shop steward. Rudolph is demanding a new contract, the sleigh team is threatening to strike, and Santa has instructed his efficiency-minded chief of staff, Elfish Prezley, to make the problem disappear.
Then government agents Joe Friedegg and Frank Cannon arrive on an unauthorized mission—and a gunshot turns Santa’s toy shop into a crime scene.
Rudolph is dead. Santa and Elfish have motives. The investigators have badges, conflicting stories, and almost no forensic equipment. As Rudolph’s ghost reenacts the hours before his death, the audience follows twelve increasingly peculiar clues, questions the suspects, completes Detective Cards, and sings the evidence back table by table before committing to a solution.
At the North Pole, even the numbers refuse to behave.
At a Glance
Interactive comedy murder mystery and police-procedural parody
Approximately 2–2½ hours with dinner and intermission
4 men and 1 woman
The North Pole on Christmas Eve
Questions, Detective Cards, and a table-by-table clue singalong
Eight musical parodies with recorded accompaniment
Recorded music, sound effects, gunshot, phone ring, and hand props
Dinner and community theatres, fundraisers, and holiday events
SantaCo Management, One Shop Steward, and Two Government Agents
Five people entered the toy shop. Only four of them remained available for questioning.
Santa Claus
Weathered by decades on the job and one troubled reindeer short of a full sleigh team. Santa is confronting a labor dispute, a corporate reorganization, an unauthorized government mission, and a murder investigation—all before his annual flight.
Elfish Prezley
Santa’s efficiency-minded chief of staff arrives armed with an MBA, a mobile phone, and a corporate vocabulary capable of disguising almost any intention. Her résumé includes surviving the Keebler tainted-cookie scandal of 1992.
Rudolph “Rudy” the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A once-humble Christmas celebrity whose fame has gone thoroughly to his head. Rudy has become the reindeer shop steward, delivered a new labor contract, and threatened to ground Christmas before turning up shot dead in the toy shop.
Sgt. Joe Friedegg
A deadly serious government agent on an unauthorized secret mission. Joe carries a badge, quotes regulations, and has memorized the complete penal code—although he may have studied the law of gravity.
Frank Cannon
Joe’s easily distracted partner is a police-academy washout with a novelty badge, interpretive-dancing skills, and an enduring desire to get his hands on a gun.
Inside the Investigation
The evidence is gathered in numbers. The audience has to sing it back.
Character MinglingDirect Suspect QuestionsDetective CardsThe Twelve-Clue Singalong
Guests receive a program, Detective Card, pen, and Character Fun Fact while the cast circulates in character before the scripted action begins.
Rudolph’s death launches the investigation. Santa, Elfish, and Rudolph’s ghost reconstruct events through flashback and cross-examination before the audience questions the suspects directly and records a solution.
Then the room performs the evidence: tables join the “Twelve Clues of Christmas” recap one group at a time before Act Three reveals the killer and recognizes successful detectives.
No guest is required to perform alone, yet the entire room becomes part of the investigation.
Collected from the SantaCo Crime Scene
Six exhibits from an investigation conducted without forensic equipment.
01 / Physical Clue
The Cartridge Under the Tree
The first clue of Christmas.
02 / Labor Evidence
The Reindeer Labor Contract
Christmas is subject to collective bargaining.
03 / Call Record
Five Cell-Phone Rings
Someone called before the gunshot.
04 / Personnel File
Frank Cannon’s Academy File
He never quite gets his hands on a gun.
05 / Living Artifact
The Twelve-Clue Table
The evidence must be sung before it can be solved.
06 / Unknown
Uncatalogued Evidence
Recovered near Elfish’s workstation.
From the Notebook
A procedural mystery becomes musical when the evidence starts counting itself.
When Numbers Become EvidenceThe twelve clues are not merely a recap. They distribute the investigation across the room, turn memory into music, and let every table help reconstruct the crime.
Evidence Without ExplanationA glowing nose, a shifting eye patch, and several solemnly collected blackberries invite the audience to notice first and understand later. The second look completes the joke.
Available for Production
Turn the toy shop into a crime scene before Santa’s annual flight.
Slay Ride IV is designed for five performers, table-based audience participation, eight musical parodies with recorded accompaniment, and a portable collection of documents, badges, sound cues, and hand props. It is especially suited to dinner and community theatres, fundraisers, performing-arts and civic organizations, and corporate or private holiday events.
Production Information
Bring CSI North Pole to your audience.
The complete listing opens on New Play Exchange. The excerpt is included with this page package.
Continue Exploring
