"Shear Madness" is the longest-running non-musical in American history, right next door to Charles Playhouse Theater's "Blue Men Group," but I had never heard of it. For such a long running production, "Shear Madness" seems to hover slightly below the radar. Nevertheless, I ventured to the theater district Friday night, hoping that I too would enjoy it as much as the millions that have experienced it all across the world. In this play, Tony Whitcomb is a flamboyantly gay hairdresser who has a noisy and famous pianist for an upstairs neighbor. He, along with a young female co-worker and a couple patrons, are at his salon, Shear Madness, trying to enjoy the day while the bothersome music plays overhead. Toward the middle of the performance, the female pianist is murdered, and everyone is a suspect. The cops come in and the audience helps them solve the crime.

The other characters include Barbara, a high-school-uniform-wearing woman of questionable reputation; Mrs. Shubert, a rich old woman living off her husband and possibly cheating on him, Eddie, a smooth-talking antiques dealer, and Mike and Nick, two shocked first-time customers unimpressed by Tony's inability to do the simplest of tasks without losing his concentration. They all bounce off each other like lottery balls, giving dirty looks, saying dirtier things and driving each other a little bit mad.

While the plot appears simplistic on the surface, the show has many other aspects. There are three main reasons why this show works so well.

Number one: It's funny. It's really funny. It follows in the tradition of some of the great vaudeville acts such as Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, in that it combines simple physical humor with witty dialogue. If one joke doesn't get you, there are 50 right behind it to guarantee a roomful of laughter. Cliched? Perhaps, but cliches, like rumors, have their beginnings in the truth.

Number two: The actors are very talented and well acquainted with the material. Patrick Shea, who has been Tony since the early 80s, knows this character so well that he can stretch the boundaries and then rewrite those lines at will. Other performers, like Ellen Colton and Michael Fennimore have been part of the cast for more than a decade and counting.

Number three: improvisation and localization. These two components are what put "Shear Madness" in the place where it can go anywhere in the world and perform well (and it nearly has). First of all, no two shows are alike because the audience influences the show in unpredictable ways, forcing the actors to hone quick minds for comedy. Since they never know what they're going to be confronted with, the audience is likewise placed in the middle of the suspense of the moment. The local flavor that the show provides helps to create a community atmosphere. Politicians, celebrities, products and commercials, can all be lampooned to great effect, with the crowd following the majority of the references. Not many productions provide this much freedom and flexibility, for both the actors as well as the writers, and its record-breaking history proves that.

Afterward, I bumped into three of the "Shear Madness" actors and spoke with them about the play. They all seemed proud of the production, of what it has achieved and how well the public has responded to it for decades. I admitted my ignorance at not knowing of the play until recently, and they reacted with a slight surprise. We brainstormed as to why the new generation has not discovered this local theatrical treasure.

This is a show that everyone will enjoy. My friend, despite not being able to understand all of local jokes as an international student, loved the show and laughed just as much I did. With "Shear Madness," you get the intimacy and personal attention of a great improv troupe perfectly mixed with the structure of an established play. This show is definitely deserving of more hype and a greater reputation. The murder, the whodunit motif and the audience participation are all tools skillfully wielded by the cast and crew to make an already funny show absolutely memorable.