.png)
Before Majestic Repertory Theatre’s Scream’d took a stab at satirizing ’90s horror films, creator Troy Heard’s The Craft’d: An Unauthorized Musical Parody took Andrew Fleming’s 1996 witch flick to new comedic heights. After that breakout in 2022, the coven has reunited to call the corners in a refreshed staging that’s so off-the-wall witchy, we weirdos can’t get enough.
The plot follows teenage girls Sarah, Rochelle, Bonnie and Nancy, who unite at Catholic school as they navigate racist bullies, scummy boys and troubled home lives. The Craft’d balances hilarity with humanity as each girl’s struggles—Nancy’s abusive home life, Bonnie’s body image issues—are relatable and well executed through gothic ’90s rock songs, supported by a live all-female band with music arrangements by Brandon Scott Grayson and choreo by Legoland’s Jeffery Dubey.
Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” and Gerard McMahon’s “Cry Little Sister” all get the star treatment as the witches cast spells, hilariously navigate iconic scenes like “light as a feather, stiff as a board,” and perform sexy summoning rituals to the all-powerful deity Manon—with Nancy shamelessly throwing ass in the background.
Most of the original cast—Katie Marie Jones as Sarah, Malia Rae as Rochelle, Jenelle Catherina as Bonnie—reprise their roles. But Samantha Souza stepped in as the menacing ring leader Nancy, and she was a brilliant choice. Souza, donning a jet-black bob, fully embodied Fairuza Balk’s rageful witch. She’s sharp and abrasive, starkly contrasting the shy and queer-coded Bonnie (she would’ve loved the 2010 revival of Lilith Fair) and the headstrong Rochelle. Actress Coco Rigbye will pick up where Souza’s Nancy left off. And Jones’ Sarah, who tells the coven’s story through a flashback as she’s promoting her best-selling book, Ancient Pagan Demons and the Women Who Love Them, also rounds out the misfit coven as the perfect “fourth.”
But secondary characters also steal scenes, like Ray Winter’s lovesick, Seal-singing Skeet, and Aurora Murphy, who doubles as Nancy’s chainsmoking mom and the psychic shop owner. The show’s a blast of clever pop culture references, praiseworthy moments of stage magic (see: the Nancy-to-Sarah house party transformation scene) and fantastic music. The film version of The Craft already had a cult-following—now The Craft’d has its own.
THE CRAFT’D Thru November 15, Thursday-Sunday, 8 p.m., $50-$60. Majestic Repertory Theater, majesticrepertory.com.
English (US) ·