‘Witches Brew’ at The Strand Fuses Broadway with Halloween

The Strand Theater has brewed up a totally unique approach to its annual Northern Nightmares festival. 

The nonprofit theater has contracted with professional touring company Enchante Cabaret to bring its original live production, Witches Brew, to Zelienople for the final weekend of October. 

Witches Brew blends Broadway and pop music into an original storyline about The Witch of Halloween, who schemes to make every day All Hallow’s Eve.

This production may be Halloween-themed, but, in keeping with Northern Nightmares’ tradition, the show is family-friendly, and contains lavish costumes and set design, as well as popular music and plenty of excitement, suspense and intrigue.

Enchante' Cabaret is a professional performing arts company that tours throughout the Northeast and Midwest Regions of the United States. Since their commitment to musical theatre was established in 1999, Enchanté Cabaret has been hailed as on of the best caberet shows in the northeast. The troupe creates original productions, weaving Broadway and popular music into the storyline. 

The family-friendly production is set in the land of midnight shadows and starry skies and tells the story of the Witch of Halloween.

The Witch, determined to complete her brew that would turn all days into Halloween, decides to summon three lost souls to aide in her sorcery.

Can she claim her destiny with the elite of the sisterhood, or will good prevail over the darkness of evil?

The show comes loaded with more than 20 show tunes, standard and original works. But beware, for the audience is not out of reach of the Witch of Halloween.

If you’re going:

7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 27  

Sunday Matinee at 2 p.m. October 28

Tickets: $15 - $20 for adult reserve and $10 - $15 for children under 12

The Nightmare Tour

Northern Nightmares also features the return of its popular Nightmare Tour. The cost is $15 per adult; $9 per child under 12. Patrons will climb aboard a Lenzner tour bus and visit haunted locales between Zelienople and Harmony.

The ghoulish tour guide will spin unnerving yarns based on the various stops along the way. The final stop will be at The Strand, where riders disembark and come face to face with the dreaded (and completely fictitious) “Ghost of The Strand”.

Scheduled departures are at 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Each tour lasts about 45 minutes. Bus pickup is in the parking lot next to Goodfello’s restaurant at the corner of Main Street (Route 19) and Grandview Avenue (Route 68).

If you’re going:

Tickets can be purchased at The Strand Box Office at 119 North Main Street, Zelienople and are available on a first-come, first serve basis. 

Reservations for groups of 10 or more are available. Tour tickets includes one free pass to any Strand film program through the end of December. Restrictions apply. 

Information submitted by The Strand Theater Initiative. Have news you'd like to share with Patch readers? Email information and photos to Editor Jessica Sinichak at jessica.sinichak@patch.com, visit our Neighborhood Gallery or visit our “Local Voices” section.