25th Anniversary Season: Haunting of Winchester
By Mary Bracken Phillips
Music by Craig Bohmler with lyrics by Mary Bracken Phillips
Directed by Michael Butler
WORLD PREMIERE!
September 3 - October 2, 2005
The mysterious tale behind a San Jose landmark comes to magical life on stage in a bold new musical by local composer/musician Craig Bohmler (Enter the Guardsmen) and playwright/Tony Award-nominee Mary Bracken Phillips. It’s a funny, romantic, thought-provoking story about one family’s addiction to producing the fastest gun in the west—and the price some are willing to pay for fortune.
In 1884, widowed Winchester Rifle heiress Sarah Winchester began a construction project of such magnitude that it occupied the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death 38 years later. The rambling Victorian mansion Sarah designed and had built is 160 rooms of architectural oddity. What drove this woman so obsessively? What was she trying to escape? Perhaps the words of a famous spiritualist provide the key: “Thousands of people have died because of Winchester rifles—and their spirits are now seeking vengeance.” Just the ingredients for a musical that spans tears and laughter, madness and redemption!