The Best Little DIY Thursday Headlines In Texas

 

Via Giphy.

This week's Notable Opening Night is June 19, 1978, when The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas opened at what is now the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Ever since I knew I'd be reappraising Whorehouse, I've been wondering whether it could be revived. The Peter Masterson-Tommy Tune production, with a book by Larry L. King (not the one you're thinking of) and Masterston, and a score by Carol Hall, briefly ran off-Broadway before transferring to 46th Street. Whorehouse ran for approximately four straight years, 1978-1982, closing for good the day after the Burt Reynolds-Dolly Parton film adaptation opened. Timing is everything; Whorehouse had the luck to close before it would feel like a complete anachronism amid the British super-musicals and the AIDS epidemic.

It's also worth mentioning that on stage, Whorehouse is rather depressing. Madam Miss Mona Stangley (originally Carlin Glynn, a.k.a. Mrs. Peter Masterson) and Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd (originally Henderson Forsythe) don't end up together. Both have resigned themselves to their lonely, unfulfilled lives.

 

Courtesy YouTube.

Glynn and Forsythe won the 1979 Tony Awards for featured performers in a musical, with Glynn beating out costar Joan Ellis, who played newcomer prostitute "Shy." Glynn also won backstage; "The Bus From Amarillo" was originally intended for Pamela Blair, who played the prostitute known as Amber, then Angel. Blair, formerly of A Chorus Line (where she introduced "Dance 10, Looks 3"), left Whorehouse as soon as she could.

Times change, but sometimes attitudes are cyclical. Hell, this year Sean Baker used his Oscars acceptance speech to vow that he will continue being "an ally" to sex workers. The song in Whorehouse's score that I have the most baggage with is "Girl, You're a Woman." On the one hand, it pretty well threads the needle between touching and defiant. On the other hand, should we like that Shy's being welcomed into hooking?

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"The figure of Mona, and the possibilities of irony in the notion of polite and home‐like brothel, are soon used up," Richard Eder wrote in The New Tork Times.

There's a few more ballads in Whorehouse ("Doatsy Mae," "Hard Candy Christmas"), but I'm tired of bumming myself out. Let's talk about some of the upbeat songs, like "Twenty-Four Hours of Lovin,'" sung by Jewel the maid (originally Delores Hall) before she goes off for her own sexual escapades. Or "The Aggie Song," sung by Texas A&M football players who are thrilled as hell for their post-game reward.

Courtesy YouTube.

Sweeney Todd dominated the 33rd Tony Awards, meaning that King, Masterson and Tune were also-rans. Oddly enough, Hall didn't get nominated for Best Original Score. The 1979 nominees included the music from Eubie!, none of which had been written after 1940. For shame, 1979 nominating committee. I'm talking to you, Clive Barnes (New York Post), Brendan Gill (The New Yorker), Elliot Norton (Boston Herald American), Seymour Peck (New York Times), and Glenna Syse (Chicago Sun-Times). For shame.

I'm not especially fond of Whorehouse's film adaptation, except for a few scenes here and there. Since I like to end things pleasantly, let's go with what I declared the movie's "lone (star) success," Charles Durning singing and dancing "The Sidestep."

Courtesy YouTube.

Also opening on this day:

Streets of Paris, a revue that opened in 1939 at the Broadhurst. It included the lone Broadway appearance for Abbott & Costello, plus Carmen Miranda and making his Broadway debut, future legendary director-choreographer Gower Champion.

Forever Tango, which featured Argentinian music and dance and ran for the 1997-98 season at first the Walter Kerr and then the Marquis. It scored one Tony nomination, for choreography, losing to The Lion King.

Courtesy YouTube.

Next week, perhaps you'll join me for some elderberry wine?