For the 3,225th time, someone has murdered pianist Isabel Czerny. And that someone is on stage right now.
”You said the back door was the quickest way to your car,” a pre-teen member of the audience says in his interrogation of a character in the play.
”Why did you enter the back when you were bleeding and leave through the front door when you went to your car?”
It is a good question, and the boy`s father looks on admiringly. The audience holds its collective breath waiting for an answer. On stage, Edward Lawrence, shady antiques dealer, straightens his tie. ”When I`m bleeding, I`m in a hurry,” snaps Lawrence. Then, under his breath, but over the crowd`s laughter: ”Smart kid.”
Somewhere between the board game Clue and Second City improvisations lies ”Shear Madness,” a cabaret-style comedy mystery that allows audience members to question suspects and vote for the most likely murderer. During the intermission, one character, Officer Nick Rossetti, solicits theories at the door of the theater, and even tries to pick up a few female college students. All in character, of course.
”I thought you were supposed to be investigating,” says one student, laughing.
”I am. I`m investigating you,” replies the officer.
At the close of the play, a cast member announces the show`s motto,
”Whatever way you vote, then that`s the way we`ll play it,” and urges patrons to return for another performance, and perhaps another solution. Some have returned more than 100 times.
On Nov. 16, partly propelled by such huge return business, the Boston production of ”Shear Madness,” eclipsed the record of ”Life With Father”
to become the longest running nonmusical production in American theater history. The play opened Jan. 29, 1980, at a small, 196-seat venue in Boston`s Charles Playhouse and accumulated 3,225 consecutive performances before breaking the longevity record. Just before the record-breaking performance began, the news of the milestone was announced over the theater`s P.A. system, bringing cheers from the crowd.
”You won`t believe this, but when we opened the show here, we only intended to run it for eight weeks, make back all our money, and try to take the show to New York,” said co-producer Marilyn Abrams, who had come back to Boston with her partner Bruce Jordan for the celebration. Both Jordan and Abrams know their show inside and out. He originated the lead role of Tony Whitcomb, flamboyant hairstylist, and she was the first Barbara DeMarco, his blue-haired, green-gum snapping assistant.
”Shear Madness” still has not been staged in New York, but it has set longevity records in Chicago (at the Mayfair Theater of the Blackstone Hotel, where it is still playing), St. Louis and Philadelphia. In each city, details of the play are tailored by Jordan, Abrams and the local cast to fit the city. ”In Boston, the play takes place today in Boston,” said Jordan. ”In Washington tomorrow night, it will take place tomorrow night in Washington. Before each performance the cast sits down and we ask ourselves, `What happened today?` We incorporate the news into the show that night. The places where the characters live and work are all localized.”
Jordan was first struck by the comedic potential of the then-serious German play ”Scherenschnitt” (”Cut Outs”) after seeing a production of it in Scotland. In 1979, Jordan persuaded Abrams, a fellow performer in an upstate New York theater company, to help purchase the global rights to the play for $50,000. ”If I hadn`t been such good friends with him, I would have run away,” said Abrams.
In 1980, with another $60,000, the pair launched the retitled play
”Shear Madness” in Boston.
”The comedy of it is what really developed under our guidance,” said Abrams. ”We kept seeing the comic possibilities with the interaction with the audience. It cried out to be a comedy, and that`s what it has become.”
With the gross box-office profits from the Boston and Chicago productions alone bringing in $2.5 million a year, the pair say they have refused buy-out offers, including one for $6 million.
Jordan and Abrams have both acted in more than 2,000 performances of
”Sheer Madness,” and they often assume the lead roles to break in a city before recasting the parts and moving on. They have sold gift certificates, handed out fake ”Mad Money” to promote the show and even served as ushers. Robert DeCola, a group sales co-ordinator for the Philadelphia production of
”Shear Madness” for more than three years, said, ”Marilyn and Bruce are human. They were actors first and producers second. Because of that, I think they know how they would want to be treated as actors or employees.”
After the Boston production`s record-breaking achievement, Abrams and Jordan held a lavish party at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel for their employees. Dressed in velvets, minks and tuxedoes, company members from productions in different cities mingled and discussed the merits of the play. ”The format of the play keeps it totally fresh,” said Marji Bank, who plays the socialite Mrs. Shubert in the Chicago production. ”I only need 12 more and I`ll have 1,800 performances.”
”The audience talks back to you-there is no fourth wall,” said Mary Anne Conk, who has played assistant hairdresser Barbara DeMarco in four cities.
”Interaction makes it exiting every single night,” said Paula Flanagan, the current Chicago DeMarco.
”It is just as new for the actors every night as it is for the audience,” said Matt Callahan, who has played all the male roles in the play and is the assistant director in Chicago.
”It is like something out of the `60s love-ins,” said Jordan about the friendly gathering of Shuberts, DeMarcos and Rossettis. Then, about his own friendship with Abrams, he said, ”It`s great that we still enjoy being around each other, even after 10 years.
”We never thought, 10 years ago, that `Shear Madness` would become the longest running nonmusical. We just tried to do the best job we could.
