Single Ticket Sales Available August 19
West Springfield, MA (8/19/24) – West Springfield’s Majestic Theater has announced the lineup for its 27th season. Producing Director Danny Eaton will present a five-play season that incorporates a mix of classic and original works featuring music, comedy and drama.
First up is Shear Madness (September 5 – October 20) by Paul Portner. Shear Madness has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World records as the longest running non-musical play in American theater history. It ran for over 40 years in Boston. It’s a day like any other in the local Shear Madness Salon until suddenly the lady who lives upstairs gets knocked off. In this “Whodunit” farce, the Majestic audience will have to match wits with the suspects to catch a killer in this record breaking and interactive solve-the-crime comedy.
Shear Madness will be directed by Bob Lohrmann. Producing director is Danny Eaton, and Sue Dziura is Associate producing director. Production stage manager is Stephen Petit, Aurora Ferraro is Associate production manager, Dan Rist is set and lighting designer, and Dawn McKay is costume designer. Cast members include Benita Zahn (Mrs. Shubert), Jeff Haffner (Nick), Jack Grigoli (Eddie), Elizabeth Pietrangelo (Barbara), Steve Sands (Tony) and Michael DeVito Mikey).
A Moon for the Misbegotten (October 24 – December 1) is Eugene O’Neill’s final and most personal play. O’Neill completed the script in 1943 but it did not premiere on Broadway until 1957. Set on a dilapidated Connecticut farm, the play focuses on Josie, a woman commanding and tough outside, sensuous and sensitive inside and Jamie Tyrone, a dissipated former actor with an astonishing capacity for alcohol. Josie’s father, Phil Hogan, a tenant farmer, suspects that Jamie intends to sell the farm to a hated neighbor and sets a plan in motion to bring Jamie and Josie together. This American classic play is a requiem about being able to love and be loved with a unique blend of comedy, tragedy, autobiography and imagination.
Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help (January 9 – February 16) is a comedy by Katie Forgette. Set in 1973, this play focuses on the cash strapped O’Shea family. 19-year-old Linda O’Shea, the narrator of the story, tries to tell us about a family crisis of biblical proportions when a simple conversation between her and her younger sister, about the birds and the bees, was overheard by the parish priest. It was the most turbulent day in her life, and just might turn into a parish-wide scandal—if only her family would quit interrupting!
Fences (February 27 – April 6) by August Wilson is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the play focuses on Troy, a 53-year-old working class head of house who struggles with providing for his family. He lives with his wife, Rose, and his teenage son, Cory. In his younger days Troy was an excellent baseball player and even played in the Negro Leagues, but that was before the color barrier in Major League Baseball had been broken. Fences explores the evolving challenge of a family attempting to build a safe home in the racially stratified 1950s suburban America.
Waitress (April 17 – June 1) is by Jessie Nelson, with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles. This Broadway hit musical, based on the 2007 indie film of the same name, introduces the audience to Jenna, a waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner in the American South. Growing up, she learned to bake from her mother, who had a pie recipe for just about every life situation. As an adult, baking becomes more than just a vocation; it is her greatest joy and the best medicine for dealing with her dysfunctional marriage and the disappointments of her small-town life. With a Tony-award nominated score by Sara Bareilles, Waitress features an eclectic cast of characters who bring this hopeful story to life and take us on a journey full of new love, new life, and finding out just what a little sugar, butter, and flour can do.
Subscriptions to the five-play series will be accepted through October 20, but single tickets are now being sold to all five plays. Prices for single tickets for the plays range from $35 to $38.
Doors to the theater will open one hour before the start of a show, which is also when the café opens. For more information, visit www.majestictheater.com
PERFORMANCE DATES FOR SHEAR MADNESS
Thursday, September 5 – 7:30pm
Friday, September 6 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 7 – 7:30pm
Sunday, September 8 – 2pm
Wednesday, September 11 – 7pm
Thursday, September 12 – 7:30pm
Friday, September 13 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 14 – 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, September 15 – 2pm
Wednesday, September 18 – 7pm
Thursday, September 19 – 7:30pm
Friday, September 20 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 21 – 7:30pm
Sunday, September 22 – 2pm & 7pm
Wednesday, September 25 – 7pm
Thursday, September 26 – 7:30pm
Friday, September 27 – 7:30pm
Saturday, September 28 – 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, September 29 – 2pm
Wednesday, October 2 – 7pm
Thursday, October 3 – 7:30pm
Friday, October 4 – 7:30pm
Saturday, October 5 – 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, October 6 – 2pm
Wednesday, October 9 – 7pm
Thursday, October 10 – 7:30pm
Friday, October 11 – 7:30pm
Saturday, October 12 – 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, October 13 – 2pm
Wednesday, October 16 – 7pm
Thursday, October 17 – 7:30pm
Friday, October 18 – 7:30pm
Saturday, October 19 – 2pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, October 20 – 2pm