“Shear Madness” is the longest running show at the Kennedy Center. Put on eight times a week since 1987, it also happens to be the second longest-running play in the history of American theater. A comedy who-dun-it murder mystery where the audience gets to solve the crime, “Shear Madness” is best for a first date, or to drag one’s parents to when they visit D.C.
All of “Shear Madness’” action takes place in a Georgetown hair salon, owned by predictably flamboyant Tony Whitcomb (Brad Letson), who is assisted by Barbara DeMarco (Tiernan Madorno), his flirty shampoo girl. Also in the mix are the customers: Nick Rossetti (Aaron Shields), Eddie Lawrence (Rahmein Mostafavi), Mike Thomas (Matthew R. Wilson) and Mrs. Schubert (Brigid Cleary).
The play runs in the Kennedy Center’s tiny Theatre Lab cabaret, where most of the seats are long benches, and one is close enough to see every little detail on stage — which, as one later finds out, is for a good reason. The premise is rather simple: the hair salon goes about a typical day of tending to customers, when all of the sudden they discover that the upstairs neighbor, a famous piano player, has been murdered.
After it is revealed that two of the customers are actually secret detectives, the audience is then asked to help interrogate the remaining customers as they re-enact everything that went on during the first 15 minutes of the play. As each character goes through their actions, audience members shout out their mistakes or inaccuracies.
Many tidbits in the play get updated year by year. During Thursday night’s performance, you could catch references to Paris Hilton, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin and an Avril Lavigne song. Also, if groups attend, the play will incorporate their names somehow. That night, students from an all-boys school, a group from a high school in Miami and students from Trinity Washington University were all in attendance.
Whether “Shear Madness” is a good show or not tends to really depend on the type of crowd that is attendance that night because much of the show is dependent on audience participation. The actors feed off the energy and humor of the participants. If attending on a slow Thursday night with a large percentage of the seats unoccupied or occupied by older people, don’t be surprised if the show feels a bit forced and dry. While some of the jokes definitely cause one to crack a smile, most of the humor borders on cringe-worthy.
A certain mood is required to truly enjoy “Shear Madness.” The show is corny, and definitely not anything worth seeing more than once, but as a D.C. institution, “Shear Madness” is truly a must-see. Much like wandering through the Natural History Museum or peering over C&O Canal for the hundredth time, it’s only something one would do if they were showing their visitors the necessary stops of the city. “Shear Madness” is one of those shows that truly display a unique side of the District to outsiders.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
