Commercial Street in downtown Astoria with the former Hotel Astoria

‘Shanghaied in Astoria’: The Melodrama That Became a North Coast Summer Tradition

ByMegan Harlow

Photo: Steve Morgan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Few summer traditions on the North Coast are as rowdy as “Shanghaied in Astoria.” The Astor Street Opry Company’s musical melodrama is famous for audiences booing the villain, cheering the hero and throwing popcorn at the stage, and it has run in Astoria most summers since the 1980s.

The real history behind the comedy

The show plays the town’s past for laughs, but the history behind it was grim. In the late 1800s, Astoria was a major Pacific port, and ships often left short of sailors. Crimps, or labor brokers, supplied crews by any means they could. Men were plied with drink or drugs, or simply tricked, and woke up at sea on ships bound for distant ports. Crimps collected a fee per sailor. The practice, called “shanghaiing,” also flourished in Portland and San Francisco until federal maritime labor reforms in the early 1900s helped end it.

The show

“Shanghaied in Astoria” turns that era into family-friendly slapstick:

  • A virtuous hero, a damsel in distress and a scheming villain
  • Original songs and comic dance numbers
  • Inside jokes about Astoria and Clatsop County, revised each year
  • Audience participation is expected: booing, hissing, cheering and popcorn

The Astor Street Opry Company is a community theater, and many of its volunteer cast and crew come back year after year. The show has been performed at the company’s playhouse in downtown Astoria.

A stage for young actors

Some seasons have included a youth production of “Shanghaied,” a junior version with young actors. It’s one of the ways the company passes the show on to the next generation and gives local kids experience on stage. Many young performers go on to join the main cast as adults.

Seeing the show

Performances generally run in the summer. Shows often sell out, especially on weekends. Schedules, ticket prices and youth-program details are posted by the Astor Street Opry Company each season. The company also stages other productions during the year.

More waterfront history

To learn more about the real waterfront of the shanghaiing era, visit the Columbia River Maritime Museum and the Clatsop County Historical Society’s museums, or take a walk along the Astoria Riverwalk past old pilings and cannery sites.

Sources: Astor Street Opry Company; Clatsop County Historical Society; Oregon Encyclopedia (Oregon Historical Society), shanghaiing in Oregon ports.

More in Community