
Artistsí Theatre Project redoes skin-flick as playful musical romp
By CHRIS PAGE
Get Out
That irreverence oozes from a show whose title is “Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical” is obvious.
“Debbie,” an off-Broadway confection penned by Erica Schmidt a few years ago, lifts its story from the 1978 porn classic of the same name. In it, a sweet, mammarily gifted high school cheerleader is given opportunity to realize her dream: to cheer for the Dallas Cowboys.
When her folks don’t approve (“My mother called the Cowgirls ‘outdoor burlesque!’” she whines), industrious Debbie takes it upon herself — along with her fellow cheerleaders, an easygoing bunch — to raise money for the trip. But simple after-school jobs take a naughty turn as Debbie and company (they call themselves “Teen Services,” ha) learn turning tricks with their bosses raises wads of quick cash.
In the musical, mind you, there is no nudity — though there are plenty of overflowing bras. Scenes of nookie are implied or simulated to silly degrees under saucy, cheesy refrains of ’70s thwacka-thwacka music.
It’s still no show for grandma, but the comic irony of porno musical theater keeps this raunchy romp of a show from diving too deep into the blue.
One assumes the musical’s director, Jim Linde, had an even smaller working budget than the original “Debbie Does Dallas” producers did, but he uses homemade props and a minimal set to skillful degree. Meanwhile, just like in an adult movie, the acting talents — and, here, vocal abilities — vary wildly, though Linde makes bona fide stars of this production’s Debbie (a near-virginal Jennifer Lopercio) and Debbie’s quarterback boyfriend, Rick (Seth Bogner, an ASU senior with a brilliant penchant for pinched-face ad-libbing), as well as Rick’s two football buddies, played by James Matthew Asimenios and Adam Vargas.
Linde finds giggly gold in teasing us with cheerleader hugs that linger for just a little too long, group showers with lines like, “Your skin is amazing!” delivered with winking sincerity, airhead cheerleaders that can somehow speak fluent Spanish, and a campy spirit that flails far to the left of B-movie loving theatrical kin like “Psycho Beach Party.”
Depending, of course, on whether your moral sensibilities are slack enough for this sort of thing, you won’t have a better time than at “Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical,” in all of its silly, randy irreverence. As all good musicals should, it attempts a kind of lesson, something about the price we pay to achieve our dreams. But the show quickly shimmies away from treacle. After all, it is a musical about gettin’ it on: “I can’t believe I have so much money,” Debbie proclaims in a fit of illumination.
“And it only cost me my soul!”
She pauses.
“Just kidding!”
|