The Dinner Theater is an episode of Chowder in Season 2 that first premiered on June 25, 2009. In this episode, low on money, Mung and Truffles decide to start a dinner theater.
Plot[]
Mung Daal's Catering is low on money and the gang try to decide how to get more customers. Gazpacho then gives tell an idea to start a dinner theater. Mung makes a "Who Done It" play. The group holds additions for parts and casted Gaspacho as Baron Von Bon-Bon (the murder) and Panini as Miss Sweety Pie. Due to his stupidity, however, Chowder believes that Gazpacho has been killed by the character he's playing as. During rehearsals, Chowder tries to warn Mung, only to annoy him due to not rehearsing his lines and believing he has been killed and becomes his character. While keeping an eye on Gazpacho, Chowder decides to use Panini as bait, causing her to become heartbroken and get over him, which he doesn't even notice. Chowder, however, thinks she had been taken by the Baron and killed. Upon hearing Gaspacho say that he'll "kill on opening night", Chowder declares he will stop him in the second part.
On opening night, Chowder tells Ceviche and Gorgonzola about the deaths, which Ceviche becomes devastated to hear Panini is dead. Gorgonzola tries to talk some sense into them, but to no avail. Upon hearing Ceviche say that nobody dies in musicals, Chowder decides to put on a musical in order to confuse Baron, recruiting the twosome to help him. Before the play begins, Chowder finds Panini (still furious at him) alive. He soon mistakes the others repeating the play for money as wanting to kill her continuously and puts his plan into motion. The play begins (with Panini and Gazpacho acting stiff due to possible stage fright), and during that Gazpacho gets stuck in the door due to his enormous size. Chowder begins to sing, causing Mung to act fast and throw Truffles in order to get him off the stage, and Chowder and Truffles finally push Gazpacho out of the door. As a result of Chowder's singing, the audience decides to finish off Panini and fights the cast. The lights are killed and turned back on, but Panini is found dead. She awakens and tells everyone that Chowder kissed her so she fainted, only to discover that a disgusting creature kissed her instead, in which Panini screams and runs away. Chowder says that at least no one died and Gazpacho says not yet and then goes berserk and tries to kill everyone. Afterwards, Mung ends the show and has the audience give a hand to the cast and the actors. Endive then wakes up, asking if she missed anything.
Cast[]
- Nicky Jones ... Chowder/Some really tall guy (voice)
- Elan Garfias ... Ceviche (voice)
- Liliana Mumy ... Panini /Jaki Mamuts (voice)
- Dwight Schultz ... Mung Daal/Shrimps Cocktail (voice)
- Will Shadley ... Gorgonzola (voice)
- Dana Snyder ... Gazpacho/Sir Shredded Wheaten (voice)
- Mindy Sterling ... Ms. Endive (voice)
- Tara Strong ... Truffles/Plain Pink Lemonade
The Characters' Characters[]
- Baron Von Bon-Bon - Gazpacho
- Shmerlock Honeycombs - Chowder
- Understudy - Truffles
- Miss Sweety Pie - Panini
Extra[]
- Light Holder - Ceviche
- Light - Gorgonzola
- Tree - Shnitzel
- Director - Mung Daal
Trivia[]
- This episode aired in Poland and Europe first on April 30, 2009.
- This is the first puppet credit sequence to show Gazpacho with his eyes completely open.
- In the U.S., this episode premiered the day Michael Jackson died (June 25, 2009)
- The is the fourth half-hour episode of the series, and the second one of Season 2, after Hey, Hey It's Knishmas!.
- This is the first episode that Truffles says Gazpacho's name, yet she doesn't say it alone.
- This is the highest and loudest Ceviche ever raises his voice in the series.
- When everyone is blinded by Gorgonzola's fire, Gazpacho can be heard saying "there's no smoking".
- This is the only episode with canned laughter. In one scene when Gazpacho first appears until Mung tells the wind-up teeth guys to stop the canned laughter.
- The role Chowder played, Detective Shmerlock Honeycombs, is a parody of Detective Sherlock Holmes.
- In the behind the scenes cut, Mung claimed that in the 1980's he was in the play Schmats, a parody of the Broadway musical Cats, while Mung's Schmats character Mr. Mungstoffelees is a parody of Mr. Mistoffelees, the magic cat from the same musical that Mung was parodying.
- Shnitzel's audition is a direct reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet.
- In one scene, Chowder had a worm in his belly button. He said he doesn't bite and his name's Carl. The worm shares both the name and the appearance towards C.H. Greenblatt, the creator of Chowder.
- Donde Esta is a real Spanish vocabulary for "Where are you". The entire stop-motion scene with the carrot, tomato and corn only says "Donde Esta".
- in this episode we learn Shnitzel has a twin brother named Shwitzel.
- In the Latin Spanish dub of the episode, the name of the actors is changed to the name of voice actors of the dub.
- This would be the second time Panini actually rejects Chowder and the first (and only) time she actually ends their relationship. But even then, she is heavily implied to have been played by Jaki Mamuts the entire time, so it may not actually count. Even then she resumes her 'normal' obsessive behavior later and in subsequent episodes.
- She was also kissed (unseen) by a green monster. This would make it the first of only two times in the series where she is kissed by someone other than Chowder.
- Panini even states that she would recognize Chowder's lips anywhere despite them never kissing each other in the series (but then again she's implied to have been acting/or an actor instead).
- She was also kissed (unseen) by a green monster. This would make it the first of only two times in the series where she is kissed by someone other than Chowder.