Cheers Live on Stage
STAGE ADAPTATION | BOSTON & CHICAGO 2016
Grayson Powell as Sam Malone and Jillian Louis as Diane Chambers in Cheers Live on Stage.
Adapted by Erik Forrest Jackson
Directed by Matt Lenz
Based on the CBS television series created by Glen Charles, Les Charles and James Burrows
One of television’s most beloved comedies came to the stage in Cheers Live on Stage, an original theatrical adaptation produced by Stageworks Media and Troika Entertainment. The production opened at Boston’s Shubert Theatre before continuing to Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse.
Drawing from the first season of Cheers, the play brings Sam Malone, Diane Chambers, Norm Peterson, Carla Tortelli, Cliff Clavin and Coach together inside the iconic Beacon Hill bar. At its center is the combustible beginning of Sam and Diane’s romance, surrounded by the friendships and rivalries that turned a neighborhood tavern into one of television’s most enduring found families.
Rather than reproducing individual episodes, the adaptation reshapes the characters and storylines of the series into a self-contained two-act theatrical comedy—designed to work for longtime fans and audiences entering Cheers for the first time.
“I left cheering. And dumbfounded. How did they do it?”
— WBUR 90.9 Radio“Most other shows that try to capitalize on sitcoms can’t overcome the episodic problem. Cheers Live On Stage wisely drops all references to television and can be enjoyed by someone who never saw the TV show.
Give this one a look.”
— Chicago Tribune
From left: Jillian Louis, Barry Pearl,
Grayson Powell and Paul Vogt in Cheers Live on Stage