Shockheaded Peter

Created for the stage by Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott

Original music by The Tiger Lillies

Based on Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffmann

Directed by David M. Jenkins

Nov. 26 – Dec. 4, 2021

Preview Performances: Nov. 23 – 24

Tickets: $20.00 – $34.50

Jaeb Theater, Straz Center for the Performing Arts

What It’s About

Our triumphant return! A little bit Edward Gorey, a little bit Tim Burton, Shockheaded Peter is the phantasmagorical musical staging of Heinrich Hoffman’s dark, mildly-terrifying 19th-century German children’s book Der Struwwelpeter. The show illuminates graphic cautionary tales about a cast of disobedient children like Young Harriett and her pyrotechnic tendencies, little Conrad and his insatiable thumb-sucking and a handful of other misbehaving youngsters who come to untimely and hilariously horrific ends.

Eerie, ingenious, deranged, playful, sadistic, original, hilarious and a work of genius.

Why It’s For You

This production ran for a month this summer with sold-out houses and the adoration of both critics and audiences. It will be a special dark delight for fans of our much-beloved award-winning production of Gorey Stories, presented in 2007 and 2012.

Shockheaded Peter‘s source material, Der Struwwelpeter, has had a long and profound impact on pop culture, from Bugs Bunny to Edward Scissorhands!

An instant classic in its own right, the stage production has won rave reviews around the world as one of the most original collaborations of its kind. So sweet, so sinister, and so completely outrageous this hilarious black comedy is perfect for morbidly sophisticated children of all ages, their dreadful parents, or anyone who ever sucked their thumb.

Not quite a musical, Shockheaded Peter is best described as a sort of Victorian gothic cabaret. Regional vet Paul J. Potenza serves as the MC for an evening where 12 stories are told through song (including an on stage band playing a host of quirky instruments) and a wild variety of performance styles: puppetry, physical comedy, dance, aerial silks routines, and even homages to silent film from the German Expressionism era.

Please Note

Strobe lights will be used in this production.
Kasondra Rose in Jobsite's Shockheaded Peter. (Photo: James Zambon Photography)
Kasondra Rose in Jobsite's Shockheaded Peter. (Photo: James Zambon Photography)

Media

Merch clearance!

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Cast & Crew

  • David M. Jenkins – Director
  • Jeremy Douglass – Music Director
  • Brian Smallheer – Technical Director

Cast

  • Colleen Cherry – Ensemble / Puppetmaster
  • Amy. E. Gray – Ensemble / Mother
  • Jonathan Harrison – Ensemble / Father
  • Spencer P. Meyers – Siren
  • Paul J. Potenza – MC
  • Kasondra Rose – Ensemble / Aerial Silks
  • Katrina Stevenson – Ensemble / Aerial Silks

Band

  • Elwood Bond – drums, otamatone, toy piano
  • Jeremy Douglass – melodica, flute melodica, toy piano, bowed saw, glockenspiel, bass organ pedals, otamatone, sound effects, babies
  • Mark Warren – ukulele bass, Theremin, 9-string mandolin, 6-string banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion

Crew

  • Jo Averill-Snell – Lighting Designer
  • Teah Banks – Rehearsal Stage Manager, Prop Construction
  • Dave Cohen – Sound Engineer
  • Reuben Hirsh – Master Electrician
  • David M. Jenkins – Prop Construction
  • Chloe Mastro – Scenic Artist
  • Roz Potenza – Prop Construction
  • Matthew Ray – Production Stage Manager
  • Tea Roberts – Scenic Artist
  • Kasondra Rose – Choreography
  • Brian Smallheer – Scenic Designer
  • Katrina Stevenson – Costume Designer, Choreography, Prop Construction
  • Mark Warren – On-stage Sound Technician

Patron Reviews

One Response

  1. Loved this zany romp as a season ticket holder and look forward to seeing it again in December. You will laugh until you cry–in a good way! David, you pull some amazing “tricks” out of your hat!

    Barbara Schnipper

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