On Oct. 31, The Majestic Theater held their “Majestic Movie Night Extravaganza”, in which they played the popular ‘90s Halloween movie, “Hocus Pocus”, but it was more than a movie.
The evening featured themed concessions, hosts performing vaudeville style skits throughout the movie, trivia about the film, and a costume contest.
When the guests arrived, many arrived in creative costumes including, but not limited to, Charlie Brown, Steampunk outfits, and Mystery Inc. from “Scooby Doo”, and many of them hurried straight away to sign up for the costume contest.
One contestant was Leanne Giordono, who entered the contest dressed as Maleficent. Giordono said the event helped her to get into the Halloween spirit because, “I get to dress up! I love to dress up for Halloween!”
Giordono admitted she was not sure if she saw “Hocus Pocus” or not, but she was excited to see it.
When the evening started, the opening skit featured a host dressed as Sarah Sanderson coming out to welcome everyone to the movie. Next, the second hostcame on dressed as a witch from “The Scottish Play”.
The two hosts wait for the third, who is to play Winifred and after her arrival, the first event in the evening could begin. This started with trivia about the movie, during which, whoever got a correct answer would win a coupon to get free popcorn at intermission.
Hannah Weekley, the concessions assistant at the event, explained they work for the theater and were scheduled to work that night and was tasked to come up with special concessions for the event.
The concessions staff highlighted cupcakes which were decorated to match the theme of the movie, with chocolate molds of Winifred Sanderson’s beloved book.
In order to make concessions more inclusive to as many guests as possible, Weekley made sure to have as several options available.
“Whether it be stuff that is non-alcoholic for people that don’t drink, or alcohol for people that want to, or non-caffeinated items like juice for younger children as well as non-sweet items.” Weekley explained.
During the second half of intermission, the costume contest was held. All the contestants were called to come onstage and the audience voted for their favorite by clapping and cheering when they came forward.
The winner was Harper Johnson as the beast from “Over the Garden Wall”. They won a Majestic Theater coffee mug, Majestic Theater stickers, and two tickets to any future Majestic Theater show of their choice.
Johnson was “pretty excited” when they won the costume contest as they never won one before and planned to use their tickets to attend the Majestic Theater’s upcoming production of “The Producers”.
“Over the Garden Wall’ is a show I like to watch each autumn.” Johnson said. “I think the beast is one of the coolest characters in ‘Over the Garden Wall’ and I thought it would be cool to dress up as him.”
After the movie ended, Sarah and the witch from “The Scottish Play” came out to thank everyone for coming, and.
Weekley asserted her belief the event would help the community get into the Halloween spirit due to the nature of theater as a whole.
“I feel like theater itself, regardless of events, is fantastic at bringing community together.” Weekley stressed. “Seeing people who get excited about things like Halloween, people who are similar-minded like that. It’s very uplifting and exciting to be a part of.”