Review: THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS at Palm Canyon Theatre

Palm Canyon Theatre's current production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas breathes plenty of energy - and a fair bit of sexuality - into the 1978 musical. Although it is not the first musical to be based on a factual event, it has certainly chosen one of the stranger events to revisit: the closing of a Texas brothel called The Chicken Ranch.

At the top of the show, after the bandleader (Chip Hayden) gives us a little history of The Chicken Ranch, we meet its madam, Miss Mona Stangley (Jaci Davis). As soon as she opens her mouth with the first few lyrics of "A Lil' Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place," we know that Davis rules the stage, just as Miss Mona rules the whorehouse. She's a knockout throughout the production.

Director Se Layne shows us from the outset that the girls at the ranch are indeed practicing the world's oldest profession. Derik Shopinski's skimpy costumes and Mado Nunez's well-teased wigs put the girls in position to compete for the attention of each Texan cowboy who visits the ranch with money in hand. We soon see several of those cowboys upstairs with their pants around their ankles.

When two new girls, Angel (Jana Giboney) and Shy (Grace Wallace) arrive looking for work, Miss Mona has an opportunity to explain that her "girls" are actually "ladies" who speak well, follow a strict set of rules, don't have tattoos or extreme hair or make-up, etc. In short, she runs a classy joint!

Miss Mona is also a close friend to the sheriff (Donald Kelley in one of his strongest performances to date). Like everyone in the small fictional community of Gilbert , the sheriff knows damned well what goes on at The Chicken Ranch, but it was in operation long before he was born, and he recognizes it as part of the fabric of local life.

We then cut to a television studio where TV watchdog Melvin P. Thorpe (Ron Coronado) exposes the ranch during his broadcast with "Texas Has a Whorehouse in It." With his hair torqued a foot above his head and an outrageous red and blue suit with white cowboy boots, Coronado has the audience in fits of laughter as he and his dancing girls paint a picture of the dangers of such an establishment in the community, all the while doing turns and kicks back and forth across the stage.

The cast seems huge - there are 14 girls working at the ranch - but except for Miss Mona and the girls, no one else has more than one song. Many PCT regulars are in the cast and I found myself looking forward to their next entrance, but often they didn't have any more scenes.

Late in Act I, we see the male ensemble as the Aggies football team. When they win their final game of the season, a senator brings them to the ranch for a bit of "horizontal reward." The governor (a very funny Ed Lefkowitz) even shows up long enough to sing a song. Then, Watchdog Thorpe decides to raid the house along with photographers while the Aggies and the governor have their pants down, literally. That puts pressure on the sheriff to close the ranch down.

The action at the whorehouse is a lot more evident in this production than it was in the Dolly Parton movie (where the girls might well have been going upstairs to play Parcheesi), but as I looked around at the audience members near me, I saw broad grins and heard lots of chuckles - and a standing ovation when leading lady Jaci Davis took the final bow!

I absolutely loved the set design. Neil Kapple used strong white architectural pieces against a black background to indicate the parlor and upstairs balcony of a very classy house, and the use of separated planks for the walls upstairs allowed us to see the girls "at work" as other action continued in the main parlor.

Musical Director Steven Smith skillfully conducted the show from his piano, with David Bronson (drums), John Pagels (guitar) and Larry Holloway (bass).

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas continues through March 10, with very limited seating remaining. It will be followed by Shakespeare in Love March 20 - 24. Tickets and further information are available at www.PalmCanyonTheatre.org.

Photo by Paul Hayashi.

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