Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public
Eric K. Johnston
last week, so I went ahead and bought it. And, listening to the
opening, I really fell in love with it. The opening number (which
does go on forever, I'll admit - 12 minutes, I think) is a big
Vegas-style number called "Let The Devil Take Us", and it's a lot of
fun. But the best song in the show, IMO, is the next song, called
"Picture Show", sung by Miss Mona, about how her life hasn't been so
wonderful. The plot gets really weird, and it's fun to hear their
phone sex ad song "Call Me", especially when they start talkig about
the Information Highway...
There are a few more good songs, but the ending is one of the most
ridiculous things I've ever heard!!!!! Miss Mona is elected
President of the US and we're treated to a preachy number about how
great the US is. Not that i have anything against our country, nor
against a woman being elected Pres - but isn't this a BIT of a
stretch? Especially since the first Whorehouse musical was based on
fact (I thought this one was, too, until I started hearing the plot)
Has anyone else heard this recording (or did anyone see it?)
Eric K. Johnston (Harvard Red & Old Gold)
The comic hero thrives by his vices
The tragic hero is destroyed by his virtue
Moral paradox is the crux of the drama
(Charles Ludlam)
Faith Burwasser
: There are a few more good songs, but the ending is one of the most
: ridiculous things I've ever heard!!!!! Miss Mona is elected
: President of the US and we're treated to a preachy number about how
: great the US is. Not that i have anything against our country, nor
: against a woman being elected Pres - but isn't this a BIT of a
: stretch? Especially since the first Whorehouse musical was based on
: fact (I thought this one was, too, until I started hearing the plot)
: Has anyone else heard this recording (or did anyone see it?)
: Eric K. Johnston (Harvard Red & Old Gold)
I saw the show, though I have not yet bought the recording.
The ending is clearly presented in a way that it can only be interpreted
as fantasy. by the way, they had a HORSE onstage at the end!!! I think
it was during curtain calls or right before. Either way, it seemed like
a useless waste of money.
I actually liked the show better than Will rogers Follies (which I
HATE). It was fun, in a tacky sort of way. It also had its problems,
chiefly with lack of development of the characters (especially between
Mona and her love interest--that all just seemed convenient) And, I had
problems with the baord room scenes and the way they portrayed the
treatment of the secondary female character (whose name I forget) No, I
am not a militant feminist-- I rarely have much problems with this
issue.
I saw the first preview, so some things may have changed by the time the
show opened. But, I think I am in the minority in that I enjoyed some of
it--like all the celebrity impersonaters-- in a fun way. High art it
wasn't, though.
-Faith
--
"Into the woods and who can tell what's waiting on the journey!"
"Any dream will do..."
burw...@sas.upenn.edu/ Fait...@aol.com
roost alisa caroleyn
flame me for saying this. I am tired of being flames. And please, don't
call me names. If you disagree, that is more than fine, but do it on
an intellectual level without names and labels.)
I didn't think the show was fun. I agree that Mona's first song was great,
and there were a couple of good songs. But there was one song "Goodbye
to Texas" that pretty much epitomized the show for me. It was a long list
song, and then the chorus came on and resang the song, but there wasn't
any cheoreography (or anything flashy you might expect.) It was just boring.
They did have singers in the lobby before hand, and it was a huge production.
But the stand up comic wasn't that great. (he had one good line: Famous
last words: Abe Lincoln: I thought we had orechestra seats alice.) The set
didn't really work: One of the critics called it an international airport
terminal on uppers. There was too much neon.
I found the show to be condescending: the idea of Mona being president just
was too much. But also the prostitutes were so clearly not prostitutes. The
show was trying so hard to be PC. And sometimes that became offensive.
Call Me didn't work on stage. Someone said that the idea of gorgeous show
girls in teddies dancing with homely middle aged men w/ boxer shorts around
their feet sounded funnier than it looked.
I thought it made Aint B-Way Grand (Same theatre, different year) look like
Les MIz. It was really bad. All of this is my opinion, of course.
Cheers
Alisa
Adam Feldman
>: I found the OBR of The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public at Best Buy
[ CUT]
>This show holds the record for the shortest run on Broadway. Perhaps we
>now have a glimpse as to why. Supposedly it was atrocious. Sounds it.
>Aaron
Sorry to be a nitpick, Aaron, but that is just not true. There are
countless shows in Broadway history that have closed in fewer perfs. see
Ken Mandelbaum's book on Broadway flops, "Not Since Carrie," for more
details. Many of the shows in Mandelbaum's account closed in one show or
less.
Warmly,
Adam
Aaron Villa
: opening, I really fell in love with it. The opening number (which
: There are a few more good songs, but the ending is one of the most
: ridiculous things I've ever heard!!!!! Miss Mona is elected
: President of the US and we're treated to a preachy number about how
: great the US is.
: Has anyone else heard this recording (or did anyone see it?)
: Eric K. Johnston (Harvard Red & Old Gold)
This show holds the record for the shortest run on Broadway. Perhaps we
now have a glimpse as to why. Supposedly it was atrocious. Sounds it.
Aaron
avi...@bu.edu
Eric K. Johnston
It's a typo - it was meant to be OBCR (Original Broadway Cast
Recording)
Eric K. Johnston (Harvard Red & Old Gold)
The comic hero thrives by his vices
Andrew McGibbon
First of all, what is an OBR. I have a pirated copy of the show on tape.
I saw the closing performance. I'm afraid I can't say many nice things about this
show. The concept was ridiculous, however, the entire show was not done justice
by the entire production design. In placing this in Las Vegas, it lost all of the
country charm that it had in the original. It has to qualify for one of the
ugliest set designs I have EVER seen. Mr. Mackie's costumes were fine, but nothing
to write home about. The whole design concept changed the feel of the show into
something that I don't think the authors had in mind. You didn't care one bit
about any of the characters. I found Dee Hoty to be completely cold and
unlikable. I do not, however, fault the cast for most of these problems as much as I
do Messrs. Tune, Calhoun and Masterson. It's interesting though, I had a friend
who was a dresser on the show. He suggested that I listen to the tape and that I
would probably enjoy the music. You know what? Once all that ugly scenery was
gone, you are able to see that Ms. Hall wrote some very pretty and tuneful music.
What a waste.
Andy
Analda House
Feldman) wrote:
>
There are
> countless shows in Broadway history that have closed in fewer perfs. see
> Ken Mandelbaum's book on Broadway flops, "Not Since Carrie," for more
> details. Many of the shows in Mandelbaum's account
> closed in one show or less.
Out of curiosity...have any shows ever closed in the middle of a
performance?
(Yes, I'm being serious)
Analda House
hous...@wfu.edu
Andrew McGibbon
>
>=>First of all, what is an OBR.
>
>It's a typo - it was meant to be OBCR (Original Broadway Cast
>Recording)
>
>Eric K. Johnston (Harvard Red & Old Gold)
>
>The comic hero thrives by his vices
>The tragic hero is destroyed by his virtue
>Moral paradox is the crux of the drama
> (Charles Ludlam)
>
To be honest with you, I have a pirated version but I didn't know that they were
even going to spend time and money to make a cast recording.
Tikiman
McGibbon) writes:
I saw the show it thought it was a lot of fun. The sets were big and
tacky (FUN) and the costumes (especially the girls courtroom dresses) were
great. I think too many people took this show too seriously. It was just
fun fluff. i enjoyed it a lot more than quite a few things this season.
i can't say it was art, but it made me laugh..
Bob
Tony Anderson
Well, they did and I wish they hadn't! I bought this lemon for $16.99 and
it is a piece of crap! Anything you may have liked about the original
WHOREHOUSE just forget. It's under an hour long (the CD) and I have tried
3 times and still can't get through it all once. It reminds me of that
other good ol' classic...."LEGS DIAMOND" (at least I unloaded that!).
In short, SAVE YOUR MONEY! Go buy the new SHOWBOAT or CAROUSEL,
at least somebody actually likes those (I do :-)
ToNy :-)
And the show was recorded by the time it closed, it has just been
simply sitting and gathering dust...I see why..it still should have.
--
THE
*** *** *** *** ****** "Trust No One..Not Even Yourself"
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* * * * * Join Agent Moldy and Agent Scurvy
Hanon
writes:
To be honest with you, I have a pirated version but I didn't know that
they were even going to spend time and money to make a cast recording.
The album was recorded before the show opened, back when the success of
the show seemed like a foregone conclusion. When the show flopped, the
record company that recorded it refused to release it, so it was picked up
by whoever is releasing it now. By the way, I saw this show. It was like
being stuck in an elevator with someone with bad breath telling you dirty
jokes.