{"id":38555,"date":"2026-10-07T09:52:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T16:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/?p=38555"},"modified":"2026-10-10T21:14:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T04:14:54","slug":"shear-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/2026\/10\/shear-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Shear Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Play (1980)
\nbased on Scherenschnitt<\/em>, written by Paul P\u00f6rtner
\nDirected by Liv Dumaine and Tyler Rosati
\nGreater Boston Stage Company<\/a>
\nStoneham, MA
\nSeptember 25 – October 11, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Producing Artistic Director: Weylin Symes; Scenic Builder: Misfit Toys Theatrical, LLC; Lighting Designer: Matthew Brian Cost; Costume Designer: E. Rosser; Sound Designer: Adam Smith; Properties Designer: Emily Allinson; Director of Production: Meghan Ward; Production Stage Manager: Marsha Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

With Mark Linehan (Eddie Lawrence), Alex Leondedis (Mikey Thomas), Joseph Marella (Nick O\u2019Brien), Cheryl L. McMahon (Mrs. Shubert), Jordan Rich (Radio Announcer); Tyler Rosati (Tony Whitcomb); Ceit M. Zweil (Barbara DeMarco)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>
Tyler Rosati as Tony
Ceit M. Zweil as Barbara
Mark Linehan as Eddie
in “Shear Madness”
Photo: Courtesy of Greater Boston Stage Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A quite funny, rambunctious improvisation on a murder mystery.<\/div>\n

The scene is set at the Shear Madness<\/em> hair salon, somewhere in the Boston area. (Apparently, the script indicates that the salon is located in whatever town the show is being produced.) The very swish hairdresser Tony (Tyler Rosati) is holding forth in a million very funny ways when Nick O’Brien (Joseph Marrella) enters for a shave. As well, we soon see the older and seemingly well-endowed Mrs. Shubert (Cheryl L. McMahon) enter for her hair appointment with Barbara (Ceit M. Zweil). Eddie (Mark Linehan) has also appeared. There are miscellaneous dealings between Eddie and Barbara and Eddie appears to leave for a few minutes. There is the sound of classical piano playing in the apartment above and talk of an Isabel Czerny, the pianist who lives there. The gags continue until someone discovers that Isabel has been stabbed. Things unfold in some unexpected ways as the plot unfolds. Don’t read on unless you want to take in a bunch of spoilers, but since the whole show is about spoilers, it would be impossible to write about the show without referencing them.<\/p>\n

Scherenschnitt<\/em>, written by Paul P\u00f6rtner, on which Shear Madness<\/em> is based, was first performed at the Theater Ulm, in Ulm, Germany, in 1963.<\/div>\n

This show is full of endless gags of all sorts. There are a tremendous number of one-liners, many of which have references to local Boston sites, teams, locales. Since this play does travel to some extent, it must be highly curated for each locale, since so much of the text is devoted to those local references. <\/p>\n

The portrayals are intentionally way over the top. Tony is such a stereotypically swish gay guy that it’s almost remarkable one could pull something like that off in this day and age, but Tyler Rosali does a very funny job of doing so. When Nick comes in, Tony goes so over the top with gestures of passion that it’s both very funny and very ridiculous. And that is pretty much how the whole show plays, intentionally so.<\/p>\n

Shear Madness<\/em> was one of the longest running plays in the world, premiering in Boston in 1980 and closing in 2020. Another production ran at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC from 1986 to 2026.<\/div>\n

The first half is all about set up and relies on this gaggery to keep going. It works pretty well, but seems a little forced as it continues. The second half opens up with the whole murder mystery thing, and that involves considerably more improvisation by the cast – done very well – and it livens things up.<\/p>\n

After the initial playing around about Tony’s attraction to O’Brien, things begin to develop. It turns out that
\nIsabel Czerny has been stabbed and that O’Brien is actually a cop who has come in to investigate. And so ensues the rest of the play, which is all about querying the audience to see who has noticed what has gone on with the movements and conversations of all of the characters as a way of determining who the murderer is. <\/p>\n

\"Cheryl<\/a>
Cheryl L. McMahon as Mrs. Shubert
Ceit M. Zweil as Barbara DeMarco
Joseph Marella as Nick O\u2019Brien
Alex Leondedis as Mikey Thomas
Tyler Rosati as Tony Whitcom
Mark Linehan as Eddie Lawrence
in “Shear Madness”
Photo: Courtesy of Greater Boston Stage Company<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thus, the audience is involved extensively in the second half and actually votes on who the guilty party is. The actors, accordingly, improvise the outcome to suit the audience’s choice. The most fun is watching the quite nimble and with-it actors call up all sorts of gags and lines based on what the particular outcome is going to be. All of them are up to the game and make the outing lots of fun.<\/p>\n

It’s very cute to have a play with a character named Shubert (sic<\/em> Schubert, as in the early nineteenth century Austrian composer Franz Schubert) and the unseen character named Czerny, reminiscent of the nineteenth century Austrian composer Carl Czerny, who created famous books of piano etudes. Those are just a couple of the numerous gags and oblique references that pepper this fun production.<\/p>\n

In the performance I saw, the audience voted that Eddie was the murderer and the plot’s denouement proceeded accordingly. But, as the cast notes at the end, the play is modified in medias res<\/em> at each performance according to what the audience votes. It’s pretty interesting to be tested on one’s attentiveness to the goings on, quite a bit of fun to see who in the audience has been paying attention, and it all leads to the unexpected participation of audience and cast in bringing the show to its variable conclusion. <\/p>\n

Uniquely interactive and entertaining, one understands why this fairly off the rails murder mystery had a record run in Boston, and it’s nice to get an honorary replay at the charming and intimate theatrical space that Greater Boston Stage Company<\/em> inhabits in Stoneham.<\/p>\n

– BADMan (aka Charles Munitz)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play (1980)
\nbased on Scherenschnitt<\/em>, written by Paul P\u00f6rtner
\nDirected by Liv Dumaine and Tyler Rosati
\nGreater Boston Stage Company<\/a>
\nStoneham, MA
\nSeptember 25 – October 11, 2026<\/strong>
\nA quite funny, rambunctious improvisation on a murder mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-plays","entry","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38555"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38634,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38555\/revisions\/38634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bostonartsdiary.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}