BWW Reviews: Razor Sharp Groaners Get A Big Updo in Phoenix Theatre's SHEAR MADNESS

Who cannot love Shear Madness? Good question! If you loved Henny Youngman or Buddy Hackett (that is, if you remember who they were) or if you've delighted in the stuff of the Keystone Kops or Mel Brooks, then you gotta love Shear Madness. Its survival over thirty years as one of the longest-running non-musicals attests to the joy that (if the producers really work hard at it) dumb jokes, puns and double entendres, malapropisms, and pratfalls can provide to unsuspecting, laughter-hungry, and crisis-weary audiences. Add to the improvisational mix references to local places and events and you've got a winner.

There is, frankly, a bridge that, once you cross it, you can't help but giggle even a little at some of the obvious groaners. There may even be some hearty guffaws in store.

Well, Phoenix Theatre has done Madness justice by staging an energetic and attention-riveting version and assembling an outstanding cast to rev up the audience's curiosity and suspicions in this whacky whodunit.

If you want an ensemble that has the poise, presence of mind, and charisma to carry the play, then Director Robert Kolby Harper wins the prize for exercising brilliant judgment in bringing together Pasha Yamotahari, Elizabeth Brownlee, Patti Davis Suarez, Mathew Zimmerer, Gene Ganssle, and Mark Jacobson. It's difficult to single any one of these pros out for each shines, but if one has to come out for special mention, it's Yamotahari whose acrobatic litheness and comic sensibility enliven the stage. Ah, but then, there's Brownlee whose sexy, gum-chewing, and flirtatious DeMarco (by the way, a sharp contrast to her Fantine, for which she won accolades) is delivered with tart perfection. Oh, and then, there....but I've declared already that it's tough to single out any one performer, so kudos to each and all.

The setting is a unisex hair salon, albeit there is so much sexual energy that it crowds out the uni. The set design is stunning, appropriately pink and purple, and bright, with an array of props and suggestive statuettes. Richard Farlow has outdone himself in a masterful creation of time and place.

Yamota-haha-ri's flamboyant Tony runs the shop with his assistant Barbara (Brownlee). After a ten-minute preshow (rife with pantomiming, sight gags, and hits from the '60's and beyond, e.g., Help Me Rhonda, Good Golly Miss Molly, etc.), the stage is set for the discovery of the shears-in-the-jugular murder of the salon's landlady, Isabel Czerny, in her room above the shop. Enter the cops (Ganssle and Jacobson)! Note the suspicious movements of slick Eddie (Zimmerer), a mysterious used antique dealer, and a wry klepto woman of means (Suarez). The investigation begins with serial interrogations, recreation of the day's events, and engagement of the audience in the fact-finding process.

Even the intermission is used as an opportunity for audience members to discuss the murder and the clues with the actors.

It's a total experience, ladies and gentlemen!

The audience gets to play collective detective, interrogating the actors, posing solutions, and finally voting on whom they think is the culprit. All anybody wants is the facts, and, to that end a gingerly executed balance of well-worn linegags, improvisation, and interaction with the audience leads to the solution du jour. It is the solution du jour because the brilliance of Shear Madness's design ~ and the formula that unleashes the actors' creativity every performance ~ permits a different ending depending on the vote of that show's audience as to who is guilty.

It's dumb but fun and exhilarating dumb. Enjoy! Its run has been extended for an additional week through November 30th.

Photo credit to Erin Evangeline Photography