Murder, mystery and comedy at Boston's Charles Playhouse

Every Tuesday through Sunday, a murder takes place in the downstairs theater of Boston's Charles Playhouse on 74 Warrenton St. The landlady of the Shear Madness hairstyling salon is killed, and it is up to the most unlikely band of crime-solving stalwarts to crack the case _ the audience.

Welcome to Shear Madness, America's longest-running comedy, where the deed is done, witnesses are interrogated, and the audience ultimately votes on the killer in the most engaging brand of audience participation this side of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The play itself is simple enough. Gum-chewing, red-haired Barbara DeMarco and flamboyantly gay Tony Whitcomb run the Shear Madness salon. Their customers include bumbling businessman Mike Thomas, antique dealer Edward Lawrence, socialite Muffy Schubert, and Boston native Nick Rossetti. World famous pianist Isabel Czerny, the landlady who is never seen but is always heard playing the piano, completes the character list.

The day starts out with business as usual, with Barbara doing her nails and Tony doing anything but actually cutting hair. As more of the cast enters the salon, however, suspicious activities start to occur: a stolen kiss here, a briefcase there, and a couple of overt threats of murder. Then, in a frenzy of rage from all the cast, Isabel Czerny is murdered offstage, and the cops come barging in. All of the witnesses are interrogated, and the whole first act is reenacted with the audience filling in gaps and calling actors' bluffs. While this happens, though, the actors hold their own, calling audience members "The Weakest Link," and otherwise humorously insulting them.

During the break, one of the police officers roams the audience, in character, and answers questions from audience members about suspects, clues, and theories. After the break, the audience has a chance to directly ask the actors questions pertaining to the crime. It is a testament to the comprehensiveness of the show that every audience question had a direct and complete answer, and that nothing went unanticipated. Finally, the audience voted on who was the killer. When the second act began, the killer was revealed.

Well, that is, tonight's killer. The ingenious gimmick of Shear Madness is that there is not one set ending. The killer's identity depends entirely on audience voting and reaction, so out of four possible killers, there are four possible endings. Neither the audience nor the actors know the killer's identity at the start of the show.

While this sounds like a serious crime, the show itself is anything but serious. The It is peppered with jokes, both scripted and improvisational, and the actors are perfect in their delivery. Tony is the center of attention for most of the show, commanding attention with his over-the-top mannerisms and his loud and often hilarious homosexual jokes; he says to an officer at one point, "Hold me back! Hold me back! Just hold me." The rest of the cast gets theirs as well, especially Rossetti, the undercover cop who handles all of the interrogations.

There are also many pop-culture references inserted by the actors, such as American Idol, the Spice Girls, Robert Blake, and the aforementioned Weakest Link. In their interaction with audience members, actors throw in barbs at Boston suburbs, such as Revere, Chelsea, and Medford. Many times the jokes were so funny and unexpected that the actors themselves could not stop themselves from laughing. This only served to make the audience laugh harder and to increase the energy of the show.

Shear Madness started out as a serious murder mystery, written by German playwright Paul P?¶rtner and called Scherenschnitt. Bruce Jordan and Marilyn Abrams appeared in the play in 1978, decided it would make a good comedy, and acquired stage, film, and television rights. The first ever performance of Shear Madness was in the Charles Playhouse in January of 1980. Twenty-two years and 9,304 performances later, Shear Madness shows no signs of slowing down in Boston.

The play has been a hit both in America and throughout the world. The second-longest run was in Chicago, spanning 7,220 performances from September 1982 to November 1999. The third-longest is still going in Washington DC with 6,240 performances.

Other American cities that have hosted Madness include Philadelphia, Kansas City, Houston, Fort Worth, San Francisco, Cleveland, and Detroit, to name a few. Shear Madness has also been a worldwide hit, playing Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, Budapest, and currently in Italy and Athens, Greece.

Shear Madness plays at the Charles Playhouse at 74 Warrenton St. in Boston. Shows are Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m., and Sunday 3:00 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $34 for all shows.