PicksInSix Review: SHEAR MADNESS Mercury Theater Chicago
IT’S “MADNESS” I TELL YOU!
Histories collide at the Charles Playhouse on Warrenton Street in Boston. A longtime legitimate theater, the Charles was home to productions of The Actors Company of Boston, which included Olympia Dukakis, Al Pacino and Jane Alexander. When I arrived in the fall of 1977 in search of The Actors Company, I discovered something altogether different—a group of comedians who were wildly funny, creative and destined for greatness.
In the late 1970s, the street-level lounge at the Charles was home—and epicenter—for a renaissance of Boston’s stand-up comedy scene when Paul Barclay and Bil Downes hosted the Comedy Connection and introduced a generation of new, and would-be, comedians. It was the place to see Lenny Clarke, Steven Wright, Jim Morris and Mike Donovan, among others, create a unique and special kind of Boston-baked humor that was irresistible. Jay Leno and Robin Williams were frequent visitors. I was a fly on the wall in those days, filling in at the piano and later hosting many of the comics at a Monday-night showcase in Framingham called “Comedy Live.”
But I was in the building and fondly remember the night a few years later, in 1980, when the original production of Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan’s riff on the Paul Pörtner mystery debuted as “Shear Madness” on the Charles Playhouse stage. Almost overnight, shows at the Charles were the hottest tickets in town. And, although the Comedy Connection would have a long and satisfying run, “Shear Madness” became a phenomenon—a juggernaut that continues to this day, 40 years and counting!
In Chicago, “Shear Madness” ran at the Blackstone for 17 years before closing in 1999, as well as a 2007 production that landed downstairs at The Chicago Theatre. The reason for its success is simple: it is a show that, much like stand-up comedy, makes two guarantees: 1.) You will never see the same show twice, and, 2.) You will very nearly laugh your face off every time. This unique play—an interactive murder mystery with a script that layers itself anew with the urban landscape and socio-political flashpoints—performs best in an intimate, engaging, earthy kind of environment to nest in where its accessibility to the audience allows it to reach full comic potential.
Which is certainly what executive producer L. Walter Stearns was thinking when he opted for the historic, retro-urban—and might I say, perfect—nesting place of his Mercury Theater Chicago, where on Sunday, the 2020 version of the Shear Madness Salon opened for business. Blissfully directed by Warner Crocker, the show features a finely tuned ensemble with veterans Joe Popp and Mary Robin Roth from past “Madness” productions in Chicago, Washington and beyond. While divulging a mere iota of the plot—and even less about how this all works for those not familiar with the show—the plum roles include: two hair stylists, a con man and a socialite each implicated in the murder of a high-profile individual who is heard but not seen. Two other characters factor into the solving of the case and the all-important element: a willing and attentive audience to play along, which is the key to gathering clues and solving the mystery. So, if you let it go, Mercury’s “Shear Madness—Chicago’s Hilarious Whodunit!” will turn you inside-out with laughter.
The players—Popp, Roth, Ed Kross, Brittany D. Parker, David Sajewich and Sam Woods—are each equal parts actor-comedian-improvisor and in on every joke and ready for a close-shave or a perm. It’s all played for laughs on Ben Lipinski’s set—with real running water and wondrously color-coordinated with Rachel Boylan’s costumes to make Mercury Theater Chicago’s “Shear Madness” a sure-fire comic classic!
PHOTOS|Brett Beiner
MERCURY THEATER CHICAGO
presents
SHEAR MADNESS
through March 29, 2020
3745 North Southport
Chicago, IL 60613
773-325-1700
boxoffice@mercurytheaterchicago.com
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