Humor and Theatrical Fun on the Cutting Edge with ‘Shear Madness’

Not everyone loves musical theater but apparently everyone loves “Guys and Dolls” — or at least, everyone seemed to love the Sharon Playhouse version staged this summer, which made tap dancing an era-appropriate part of the beloved All-American show.

Word on the street was enthusiastic; it seemed like everyone  you spoke to at a cocktail party had either just gone to see it or was on their way.

“‘Guys and Dolls’ was actually the highest grossing production over the past 10 years at the Playhouse,” reported Interim Artistic Director (and tap dance master) Justin Boccitto. He added at the end of his email report: “ :) Yay!”

In a time when it seems like every local business is struggling, it’s wonderful to see Sharon Playhouse topping off several excellent years with a summer season that is even more excellent.

To return to the first sentence of this article, not everyone loves musical theater, and yet Sharon Playhouse’s July musical did gangbuster. Now, in my opinion, everyone in fact does love a murder mystery, and Sharon Playhouse will follow up the success of “Guys and Dolls” with a theater cult favorite called “Shear Madness.”

First performed in the U.S. in the 1970s, “Shear Madness” is based on a German play called “Scherenschnitt,” that was written by Paul Portner and first performed in 1963.

A decade later, two actors named Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan rewrote the show, made it more daffy, and performed it in a theater in Lake George in upstate New York. It then moved to Boston and eventually ended up on the stage of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It now holds a record as one of the longest running non-musical shows in the world.

Like a Gilbert & Sullivan light opera, part of the fun of “Shear Madness” is that it is constantly evolving and every production has local references. It of course takes confident experienced performers to be able to pull off those kinds of improvisations and script changes. Fortunately for audience members at Sharon Playhouse, they are in outstandingly good hands: The show is being directed by one of its creators, Bruce Jordan; and one of the star performers is Michael Kevin Baldwin, a native of Salisbury, Conn., who is now the Playhouse director of education — and who also performed in the Kennedy Center show.

“Shear Madness” is about a death in a hair salon (for the Playhouse show, it will be the former salon in the Sharon plaza shopping mall). The audience helps the cast to solve the mystery — which means of course that every performance is slightly different.

Appearing along with Baldwin in the show are Patrick Noonan, Soneka Anderson, Gil Brady, Sandy York and Will Nash Broyles.

Anyone who wants to try and catch each performance in its Sharon Playhouse run from Aug. 26 (which is a preview night) to Sept. 11 should go to the website at www.sharonplayhouse.org. If “Guys and Dolls” is an indicator, then it seems likely that tickets will be sold at a brisk pace for “Shear Madness” as well.

There are evening shows and matinees; go to www.sharonplayhouse.org for ticket information.