Tony is having a dinner party. Mrs. Shubert needs to catch a flight. Eddie is trying to cut a deal. Barbara is acting strangely and Isabel is about to pay the ultimatea price, her life.
In the Kennedy Center’s presentation of Paul Portner’s “Shear Madness,” this motley crew gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation involving a pair of hair cutting shears and a concert pianist. For 20 years, this whodunit comedy has been tickling the fancy of the D.C. area’s inner 12 year old with its corny pop culture related jokes and complete involvement of the audience.
In the fictional world of “Shear Madness,” in the middle of D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood there is a unisex salon and a flamboyant and feisty owner, Tony Whitcomb, who is constantly annoyed by the piano playing of his mysterious upstairs neighbor Isabel Journey. He works in this salon, which appears to be 50s themed, with a sassy female stylist named Barbara DeMarco, whose attire was more befitting 20 years ago when the play first premiered.
Barbara’s client, Mrs. Shubert is a stereotypical dramatic elite unhappy with her marriage. She is two-timing her husband with a man she plans to run away to Bermuda with before the sudden murder of Journey keeps her locked in the salon under police questioning for the remainder of the day.
Throughout a great deal of the first act, you may wonder ‘who is that man in the corner of the stage?’ You will later learn that he is Eddie Lawrence, the witty antique salesmen who is one of the only normal characters in the play, and the one who gives the two quirky detectives, Nick Rossetti and Mike Thomas, a great deal of their jokes.
The comedy and murder mystery provides a special experience for every audience member by allowing them to deliberate along with the detectives to find out who committed the crime. The cast’s improvisational skill and intense knowledge of popular culture attempt to keep the audience thoroughly entertained and laughing throughout the entire production.
The characters of Tony and Barbara play to the stereotypes of an openly gay man and a sassy east coast woman, but fail to go any further to provide a representation of who these characters would be in the real world. Let’s be real, it’s 2009, if a grown woman who worked with a man as flamboyant as Tony actually dressed like a 13 year old in 1985, she would be fired immediately.
The pop culture references and improvisation are almost convincing enough to distract from the overall detachment from reality, but one look at the yellow lily wall paper and checker board floor of the set and you’re instantly reminded how impossible it would be for this place to exist in real life, especially in Georgetown.
“Shear Madness” isn’t terribly un-funny. There were definitely times when the crowd roared with laughter.
But there are only so many times that one can stand hearing a professional actor completely obliterate a turn of phrase like “It isn’t rocket science” with “It’s not rocket surgery.’”
In all actuality, this play has absolutely nothing to do with Howard students, who would probably find difficulty in relating to it. The characters are tacky, the jokes are corny, and the pop culture references are disturbingly vanilla. For some reason people have paid the $42 it takes to see this performance consistently enough to keep it running at the Kennedy Center.
If you’re into the kind of comedy that television shows such as, “The Soup,” “Chelsea Lately” and “iCarly” provide, by all means go see “Shear Madness.” If you’re not, save your money and use it as a down payment on next semester’s dining dollars.
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