'Hocus Pocus Live!!!' To Bring Salem Classic To Stage In Peabody

PEABODY, MA – Summer Orlando couldn't resist.

The New Haven, Connecticut resident finally made it to Salem and to one of the iconic locations of the inspiration for her stage production "Hocus Pocus Live!!!" As the Bette Midler character Winifred Sanderson, she decided to seek out the Dennison House, and show up in full character to mark the momentous personal occasion.

"When I got there and was out front I looked around and I realized I had stopped traffic because so many people thought I was Bette Midler in town filming the sequel," Orlando said.

On Oct. 2, Orlando and her cast will return to the North Shore to perform for the first time as part of a night of entertainment at the Black Box Theater in Peabody. The 8 p.m. show will include the 45-minute live show that encapsulates the entire movie in song, a meet-and-greet with the cast and a screening of the original movie that has gone from 1993 box office flop to endearing cult classic for a generation of adoring Sanderson Sister fans.

Those attending the screening can also dress up as their favorite Sanderson Sister for official prizes, which Orlando said Disney Studios provided, from the sequel set to film in Rhode Island.

"It hits the childhood themes for all the 90s kids for sure," Orlando, the show's creator, said. "I'm 28 — the same age as the movie — so as I grow older the movie grows with me. Now it gets a new, younger audience every single year."

Orlando said the drag performer show started as a small act in a gay bar on Halloween night and she decided to grow it from there. She said it has been performed mostly outdoors around Halloween across the country, but that this is the first time it will be performed close enough to smell the children of Salem.

Orlando plays Winifred Sanderson, alongside Barbra Joan Streetsand as Mary Sanderson and Paige Machnicz as Sara Sanderson.

Ben Coe plays Max Dennison, Jennifer MacPherson plays Allison Dennison, Frizzie Borden plays Dani Dennison and Dyken Pond plays Billy Butcherson.

Orlando said most of the cast has been with the show for years with Coe and Pond joining the cast this season. She said there is a family-friendly and adult version of the show — with Black Box attendees set to see the more mature brand of comedy.

Tickets for the 15+ show can be purchased here. All Peabody coronavirus-related protocols on that date will be followed.

Orlando said Kathy Najimy, who plays Mary Sanderson in the original and the sequel, has seen the live show in person, as has other movie cast members. Orlando said her hope is that Sarah Jessica Parker and Midler can someday make it to a show as well.

"When Kathy Najimy came she told me it was just like standing next to Bette on the set," Orlando said. "I was like: 'I could die happy now.'"

She said "Hocus Pocus Live!!!" is written for both the diehard fan of the movie and for those how have never enjoyed the experience of watching the Sanderson Sisters run "amok, amok, amok, amok, amok" all over the streets of the Witch City on screen.

"If you think you've seen Hocus Pocus, you've never seen it like we've done it."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)