More information can be found online at recently writing about Preston Sturges’ The Miracle Of Morgan’s Creek it was impossible not to tackle the very complicated subject of date rape, even if that’s something the film doesn’t actually address at all. Tickets $20 seniors $17 and students $10. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas runs until June 9 at Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave. A pace that tarries coupled with an ambiguous and not justified protagonist make this a long evening at the theater. The second act changes to focus on a quasi flirtation and non-existent relationship between Mona and the sheriff, which strives to create a sentimental human feel to the Chicken Ranch’s demise, but only awkwardly slows down a show with drawn-out pacing.Įnsemble numbers and the music in this show are great fun. One expects the story to center on them and their development or growth-a sort of modern Millie or Sweet Charity feel however, the central concern (for the first act) remains the titular subject, which makes sense, if we cared. It’s confusing writing.įar too much time of the first act is devoted to introducing Shy and Angel. Issues and characters are introduced and never or rarely mentioned again. It is as if the writer wanted to incorporate several points surrounding women and then wrote the script in a connect the dots fashion around those thoughts. A lot of potentially important moments swiftly shift to minutia: the discovery of Angel’s baby, Doatsy Mae’s reflective song, and Shy’s past. The audience is expected to feel for Mona and the bordello while rooting against Melvin Thorpe and the rest of his watchdog gang, but little character development makes this impossible. The principle problem with Whorehouse is the lack of conflict. Thorpe) in the SRO Theatre Company production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Hopefully, these issues can be worked out before next weekend, but working microphones cannot fix an inherently flawed and frustrating script.įrom left, Doug Browell (Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd), LeeAnn Roland McBride (Mona Stangley), and Doug Joseph (Melvin P. I fear imperative plot points may evaporate due to these microphone glitches. “The Angelette March” sticks out as an example. Sometimes dialogue or recorded voiceovers happen to live music, rendering anything spoken incomprehensible. While the music centers the performance, often the band seems to overpower the singers.
Amanda Cawthorne’s detailed choreography adds much to the numbers, particularly with the impressive “Aggie Song,” which may be the best number in the whole show. Group numbers and their belting harmonies make this show worthwhile, especially “The Sidestep.” Christina Turner’s powerful and soulful “Twenty-Four Hours of Lovin’” makes me wish her character sang more songs in this show. His work as music director truly shines as well.
Bryan Babcock beautifully plays piano and directs the band which consists of Joe Bolzenius (guitar), Randy Hawkins (bass guitar), Daniel Kozlowski (drums), and Jordan Shear (violin). Spectacular songs are sprinkled throughout the vapid plot.
People still patron the Chicken Ranch the state’s acceptance seems mixed, but the political ensnarements eventually turn it to an obvious and slow euthanization of the famed bordello. Soon after, Melvin Thorpe who caricatures Zindler as a clown-like self-righteous fanatic with a cult-like following, declares war on the Chicken Ranch during this evening news segment. After Mona, the owner, details the rules of the house and introduces the other girls, the new ladies are welcomed into the family. Immediately, we meet two young girls, Angel and Shy, ready for jobs at the brothel. Twenty Fans, the opening number, recounts the history of the Chicken Ranch. The show follows that premise very closely.
The brothel, which accepted chickens as well as money for payment, operated for nearly a century until an investigative journalist and TV personality, Marvin Zindler, led the campaign to close it. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas premiered on Broadway in the late 1970s and is based on the real Chicken Ranch in La Grange, Texas.