"A heebie-jeebie crowd pleaser crammed with tricks and treats!"
San Jose Mercury News
Book & Lyrics: Mary Bracken Phillips
Music: Craig Bohmler
(7/M 4/W)
"The Haunting Of Winchester" explores the legend of Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, and her "Winchester Mystery House", one of the most famous "haunted" houses in the world. The plot revolves around Sarah's relationship with the ghost of Jack Kerrigan, a gunfighter who was killed by a man armed with a Winchester rifle and who has sworn to revenge himself on Sarah. Unfortunately Kerrigan, himself is haunted by the ghosts of the men he killed, all clamoring for revenge as well. At first, the recently widowed Sarah is too preoccupied with her own grief to notice the spirits around her. But as she begins to add on to her house, the voices become clearer. And when Kerrigan forces her to face the fact the Winchester rifle company is selling a lethal weapon to anyone who can afford it, the Mystery House becomes a symbolic limbo where Kerrigan and Sarah find love, and forgiveness, and the other ghosts find repentance and redemption.
"In her book and lyrics...Mary Bracken Phillips (with help from composer Craig Bohmler) turns the Winchester mystery on its ear. The play's genius is in taking Sarah Winchester the "curiosity" and making her a warm, rather down-to-earth woman whose strong suit is compassion”... Metroactive News“
“…redemptive, funny, magical and thought provoking”…San Francisco Bay Times
Ghost farce with buoyant cowboy and hoedown spoofs“…San Francisco Chronicle
“Altogether entertaining, romantic, and yes, thought-provoking…Phillips’ always fine lyrics approach sheer poetry”…Curtain Up
“includes knee slappin’ cowboy melodies, romantic songs on the order of Phantom of the Opera with even a little Assassins thrown in”…Talkin’ Broadway