Flowers for Mrs. Harris

November 14 – 23, 2025

Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre

From the cobbled streets of post-war London to the magical avenues of Paris and beyond, Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre proudly presented Flowers for Mrs. Harris, a musical by Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff, based on the novel by Paul Gallico. The show, directed by BU alum Shamus (CFA’23) and with music direction by Harry Castle, assistant professor of musical theatre, ran from November 14 through 23, 2025, in Boston University’s Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre.

For Ada Harris, day-to-day life is spent cleaning houses. But when she happens to stumble upon something that takes her breath away, she sets off on a journey that will change her life. Ada transforms the lives of everyone she meets along the way, but can she let go of her past and finally let her own life blossom? (Concord Theatricals)

“Our protagonist Ada Harris has a life-altering shift when she first encounters a very specific dress on an otherwise average day,” says the show’s director and BU alum, Shamus, who was invited by Kirsten Greenidge, BU School of Theatre director and associate professor of playwriting, to come back to BU to direct Flowers for Mrs. Harris.

“Taste is taste and varies person to person, and so instead of working to create a costume that any audience member may or may not see the value in, our entirely student design team worked to create the sensation Ada feels in that moment [when she finds the life-changing dress]. This choice is the foundation of how we pursued the visual and aural world of the play as one that centers feeling over fact. We return to this vocabulary throughout the play. When Ada first arrives at the House of Dior and is shut out, we see a graveyard of empty dress forms instead of the gilded walls of the epic fashion house. When she is finally welcomed into the world of couture, the space explodes with fabric. We seek to generate a world where the audience experiences Ada’s emotional journey through grand visual gestures.”

It is a radical act in this moment to pursue any joy but with this show you can. You can escape for an evening and be reminded of a time you or someone you know was unafraid to pursue something they wanted even when society said it was off limits. We hope you’ll leave inspired and to be kind and true to yourself. I believe we get one life. Flowers begs us not to wait for permission and instead to pursue what will make us happy and proposes that the journey and the people from the road are as important as the destination.

-Shamus (CFA’23)