'Whorehouse flu' won't stop AACT
1970s musical set in times much like today
Sunday, June 04, 2006
BY JENN MCKEE
News Arts Writer
Recently, the flu plagued so many cast members of the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre's production of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas'' that director Edmond Reynolds canceled rehearsal. But he also gave the illness a nickname - "the whorehouse flu'' - in lieu of naming it after the poultry-themed brothel of the show's title.

"Some (cast members) were calling it the Chicken Ranch flu,'' Reynolds explained. "But I said, 'No, people might think it's that bird flu.''

Reynolds' concern stems from today's headlines, of course; but the true story that inspired "Whorehouse'' originally made its own media splash in 1973. At that time, a beloved Texas bordello called the Chicken Ranch - so named because during the Depression, poultry was accepted as currency - came under fire from a Houston television news reporter. As a battle ensued between people who wished to shut down the brothel and those who wished to save it, a reporter named Larry L. King wrote a magazine article about it, giving the story a far broader audience.

Not that this was the only news story that year. "I said in my director's note, 'Here's what's going on in the world: Nixon is president, Agnew just resigned, the Supreme Court just decided Roe vs. Wade, they just built the World Trade Center, and Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King (had their) battle of the sexes,''' said Reynolds. "There's a lot of things going on in that year. So you need to be thinking, OPEC and gas prices and long lines - does the world seem much different to you today?''

Charlie Sutherland, who plays Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, believes "Whorehouse'' maintains its relevance by way of its depiction of a "don't ask, don't tell'' society.

"That's the point of the play,'' said Sutherland. "Because nothing was talked about, it was meant to be quiet and hushed up. And we're in another era like that, where people are expected to squelch what they feel and what they say, and not say it, and to be invisible. And the play just is startlingly current.''

Sutherland saw the original Broadway production of "Whorehouse,'' which premiered in 1978. With a book by King and Peter Masterson, and music and lyrics by Carol Hall, the show earned two Tony Awards (best actor and featured actress in a musical) from its seven nominations in 1979.

"What I love about the piece so much is its authenticity - the fact that (the characters) don't always say what you want to hear, but what you hear sounds real and funny,'' he said. "Although some of it's kind of politically incorrect, it never varies from its viewpoint in that respect.''

Other theatergoers weren't as enamored as Sutherland, however. Several newspapers - including the New York Times - refused to run ads for the show (because of the word "whorehouse'' ), and for a time, people seemed uninterested in seeing it. But then Jackie Onassis attended a performance.

"There are very poignant references to the death of Kennedy (in the show), and the audience was anxious as to how she would respond,'' explained Sutherland. "And all of a sudden, there were newspaper people and television reporters in the audience who started harassing her. And the audience members - this made all the papers - the audience members protected her, and got into physical tussles with the media people that were trying to muscle in on her. ... And suddenly tickets started selling like crazy, because she had been there.''

Even so, the bawdy musical endures only modestly, giving theatergoers few opportunities to catch it (presuming you don't count the Burt Reynolds-Dolly Parton 1982 film adaptation). Edmund Reynolds himself knew virtually nothing about the show before A2CT approached him to direct; but a well-suited cast, a sharply witty script, and the country-flavored score all charmed the director.

"I was reluctant, but the things I was reluctant about have turned into blessings,'' said Reynolds. "By not having preconceived notions of anything, I was able to stage it the way I wanted.''

And even though the A2CT often offers family-friendly fare, "Whorehouse'' - like last year's production of "Cabaret'' - is definitely for a more mature audience. Reynolds has pulled none of the show's punches, in part because he doesn't believe in tampering with a script.

"I'm real tough on my cast about being word perfect, because I feel if the writer takes all the time to come up with those words, he had a good reason for them,'' said Reynolds. "And that's his gift to us, basically. We owe it to him to articulate those words correctly.''