Le Cast

Angela Amberden as Angelique Learning her craft at an early age, Angela has been a thespian since she was six. Studying abroad while young enabled her to enjoy international success in children's theatre and with most of her adolescent life spent on the stage, Angela had the opportunity to win several dramatics competitions. Additionally, she is a nationally-awarded Shakespearean performer and an award-winning impromptu speaker. Some of her proudest contributions have been to the shows:Les Miserables, A Mid Summer Night's Dream and Alice in Wonderland. Angela is always striving for excellence. After getting her BA at CSU Long Beach she went on to become an award-winning chef at Fleur De Lis Restaurant in Long Beach, CA. She currently resides in Long Beach with her husband.

Christina Hodel as Desiree Christina is thrilled to be back in the theater scene and making her debut with Masterpiece Mysteries as Desiree in Murder at the Moulin Rouge. Past favorite theater credits include The Wizard of Oz, Sleeping Beauty, The Music Man, South Pacific, The Blue Bird, Oliver, Antigone, The Bard Witch Project, The Crucible, and Tom Sawyer among many others! In addition to performing in theater, Christina has been branching out into film and television as well. She has worked on numerous films including By Golly!, The Magi, The Money Shot, Joel Schwartz Abridged, Salute to America, Little Dreams and L.A. Mode. Television and video credits include commercial work for Palm Pilot and an industrial for Taco Bell. In addition to acting, Christina enjoys singing and is a past member of the world-touring show choir "The Young Americans". An accomplished dancer, she studies ballet, pointe, tap, jazz and most recently, modern. Christina currently has a 4.0 G.P.A., is on the President's Honor List, and is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars at Cal State Long Beach where she is a Film and Electronic Arts major. Her philosophy is, "Dream with your eyes wide open."

Joanne Juliet Lapointe as Celeste This "Beverly Sills meets Bette Midler", according to the Grunion Gazette, has performed in many southland theatrical and musical productions including Evita, Sweet and Hot, Bus Stop, H.M.S. Pinafore, Most Happy Fella, Picnic and Among the Chosen Few. She has also played the great poet Emily Dickinson in Shatter Me with Dawn at the Carpenter Center and in Amherst, Massachusetts for The International Emily Dickinson Society. Her opera credits include Rosina in The Barber of Seville and Juliet in Gounod's Romeo and Juliet in addition to appearing in the Long Beach Opera's productions of Cavalleria Rusticana and Simon Boccanegra. Joanne performed one of her original solo cabaret shows, most recently at The Gardenia in Los Angeles. Together with her pianist, Rob Woyshner, she recently produced her first CD: "Dare to Dream"

Kanai Williams as Henri At a young age Kanai traded his desire to control the weather for good coping skills. Currently, he is a poet, playwright, player, and cog in the cosmic machine. Additionally, he recently made his Masterpiece Mysteries debut as Demetrius in A Mid-Winter Night's Murder.

Katie Bowers as Vivien Katie is thrilled to be a part of Masterpiece Mysteries. She just recently completed an independent feature film entitled Grand Junction. She is a former Miss Jr. Teen California and has been seen in commercials promoting Nike, Radio Shack, a European chocolate bar with Ewan McGregor, and Japanese underwear with former Dodger Mike Piazza. Her theatre credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, EVITA, Sweet Charity, Working, Twelfth Night, and more. She is a junior at Chapman University majoring in Theatre Performance. When not acting Katie teaches Kick-Boxing for 24 Hour Fitness as well as personal training and fitness consulting. "I want to thank my mom, Becky, and Steve for always believing in me. Last but not least, daddy I love you so much and I know you watch from above."

Melissa Ellis as Zoe Melissa made her theatrical debut as Augustus Gleep in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in Jr. High. In high school she added tech work to her repertoire and received the "Queen of the Backstage" crew award. She also worked tech for International City Theater's production of Frankenstein, the Musical and studied technical theater arts at Long Beach City College. She is scheduled to graduate LBCC this spring with an Associate's degree in liberal arts, Speech Communication & Theatre Arts emphases. From there she hopes to continue her education at Cal State Fullerton. Murder at the Moulin Rouge marks Melissa's second production with Masterpiece Mysteries, following her turn as Giselle in A Tale of Two Suspects.

Ron Szoke as Gaston Ron is an actor who hopes to someday support himself solely doing what comes naturally to him (annoyingly to some), playing the buffoon. Before answering his Hollywood calling, Ron studied Chemical Engineering at Purdue. A few years, schools and majors later, he graduated from Long Beach State with a Bachelor's in Theatre. Since graduation he has obtained a commercial agent and hopes to land his first commercial soon. When not spending his time auditioning or hoping to be picked up for a sitcom, he can be seen as a factory worker on the George Lopez Show or performing stand-up comedy at various spots throughout the Southland. Previously he appeared with Masterpiece Mysteries in A Tale of Two Suspects and with our sister company, Front & Centre in the audience driven WWII era radio show noir For Love or Money as well as the groundbreaking simultaneous-scene production STAGES. His roles as Bob Owens in STAGES and as Rory in Fishing are among his favorites.

with special guest appearances by...

Corey Kirschbaum as Jean Corey graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Accounting after which he worked for two years as a nationwide Seminar Speaker. His real loves are art, singing and acting. He has been a Karaoke Jockey and is an accomplished muralist and potter. He has previously appeared with Masterpiece Mysteries as Martin Toulouse in A Tale of Two Suspects, dual roles as Chief Inspector Crabbe and inept defense attorney Carl Bennett inSystematic Symptoms, Wendell Bancroft III in Cincinnati Smith & the Tomb of Doomand most recently as Raleigh Shields in the WWII era radio show For Love or Money and as #1 in Phantom of the Library.

and...

Tiffany West as Francine Tiffany has been performing since she was four years old and has appeared in a variety of productions ranging from church musicals to community theater. She also volunteers each year as a counselor at Arrowbear Drama camp for high school performers. In addition to acting and working in the music industry, she enjoys exploring her creativity through writing poetry and as a poetry contest winner has read her work on public radio. She most recently performed with Masterpiece Mysteries as the psycho psychologist Dr. Bryant in Phantom of the Library and as the bookie faerie, Moth, in A Mid-Winter Night's Murder.