. - The Michigan Dily - Wednes'day, May 18, 1994

Prostitution play is pretty promising

By Melissa Rose Bernardo
Let's get it out in the open. / Isn't this the age of telling it like
it is? ! Well here goes, and God forgive me.
Birmingham has a Whorehouse in it. (Lord have mercy on our
souls.)
- - Worth
Gardener's
The Best Little production
Whorehouse in Texas Best Little
Birmingham Theatre house in
May13, 1994 Texas,"
which is
playing at the Birmingham, couldn't come at a better time.
Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss has been exposed, Tommy
Tune's sequel "The BestLittle Whorehouse GoesPublic"opened
on Broadway May 10, and Gardener is hot.
Faithful Birmingham patrons will immediately notice
Gardner's vision manifested in the set. Eduardo Sicango has
designed an appropriately tacky, very red set, which you will
notice behind the 12-foot circular banner emblazoned with the
show title and a yellow rose. The red wallpaper with the red
velvet brocade accents provides a nice finishing touch. Add a
handful of musicians clustered around an old upright piano (also
trimmed in the red flocked wallpaper), and you have a creative

prospect, pardner
know that poultry ain't what they're selling at Miss Mona's.'I
senator, the governor and the town sheriff (Hal Davis) are al
very familiar with Mona and her girls, but when TV guru Melvit
P. Thorpe (Ron Lee Savin) shines his righteous spotlight on Mis
Mona's, the chicken doody hits the fan.
Sharon Montgomery is a splendid vocalist, and she's got al
the brass and the twang for Miss Mona. Highlights are the toe
tappin' "A Lil' Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place," "No Lies," an(
"Girl You're aWoman," whichis smooth as molasses in July. A
Sheriff Ed Earl, Hal Davis can cuss and throw around a gun,g
singing is not his strong suit. And he's no Burt Reynolds.
Backing Montgomery's powerful Mona is a strong ensembl
of her "girls." They are rather scantily clad-more so than in th
original Broadway production, my companion noted - and ha
the voices to match their attitudes. Their harmony in "Gii
You're a Woman" is just lovely, as is "Hard Candy Christmas,
led by Virginia McMath's Angel.
The scene-stealing award for the evening goes to Cleo Kin
as Jewel, Mona's assistant. Whether with Mona in "No Lies" c
on her own in "Twenty-Four Hours of Lovin'," King rocks th
house with her voice and her vamping.
The men are sort of stuck in the passenger seat in this shot
-except in one scene. At the end of Act One, seven fine health
young men - representing the Texas A & M Aggies - ar
preparing to go to Mona's for a victory celebration. Gardener ha
See WHORE, Page 1

and comfortable setting for Miss Mona's Chicken Ranch.
The "chicken ranch" is, of course, just a code name for the
illegal operation Mona Stangley (Sharon Montgomery) is oper-
ating. Of course, if you're old enough to consume solid food, you


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