TAMPA — The play Shear Madness opens at The Straz Wednesday night. It’s a full-circle event for director Bruce Jordan, who starred in the very first performance back in the late 70s.
When Jordan wrote, acted and directed Shear Madness in upstate New York, he thought it might last one summer. He was converting a dark, who done it, play out of Germany into a hilarious audience-interactive murder mystery.
“People used to come to the play from Boston in bus loads and they would say, ‘when are you going to bring this play to Boston,’” said Jordan. “And it ran there for 40 years; it’s the longest-running play in the history of the United States.”
Jordan never imagined his leading role of Tony would be portrayed by actors all over the country, including Tampa’s own Ryan-Patrick McLaughlin.
“It's just a fabulous challenge, and to be able to go through it with Bruce in the room, it’s a dream come true that I didn’t even know I had,” said McLaughlin.
It never gets old directing the play because the set, the script and the characters are always adapting to the city and time they’re in.
“We get to rewrite the bits to make it about Tampa Bay, to make it about Ybor City,” said McLaughlin.
“Like on Wednesday, there will be a joke about the Super Bowl,” said Jordan.
No show is the same because no audience is the same.
“Everybody is a suspect in the murder, and we turn to the armchair detectives to help us unravel that murder,” said Jordan.
Jordan said he’s so proud to see the character of Tony continue to live on all these years later.
“You think, look at all of those laughs he’s responsible for, look at all that physical comedy he’s responsible for, God I wish this old arthritic body can do that again,” said Jordan.
Ryan-Patrick may be the new face of Shear Madness, but Jordan will always be the heart of the show.
Shear Madness runs through April 8. For more information on tickets and show times, go to strazcenter.org.
