The National Theatre
Washington, DC
presents
Played MAY 8 through MAY 20, 2001
BOX OFFICE, TELECHARGE &
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May 7 through May 20, 2001:
Monday: 10 am to 6 pm
Tuesday through Saturday 10 am
to 9 pm
Sunday Noon to 9 pm
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PERFORMANCES
Tuesday through Saturday at 8 pm
Sunday Evenings at 7:30
Saturday and Sunday Matinees at 2 pm
Narrated Performance for the Visually Impaired
Sunday Matinee, May 13th at 2 pm
Signed Performance for the Hearing Impaired
Sunday Matinee, May 20 at 2 pm
The performance runs approximately two and one half hours, including
one intermission.
This show contains "four-letter-word" language, and is recommended
only for ages 15 and above.
TICKET PRICES
Orchestra
$75
Mezzanine Rows A-K
$75
Mezzanine Rows L-M
$60
Balcony Rows A-D
$60
Balcony Rows E-J
$35
Mezzanine Boxes
$75
Balcony Boxes
$60
Based on an original story, this Tony nominated musical will have
feathers flying
as we head back to the Chicken Ranch and all its crazy antics.
Film and stage star Ann-Margret will star as the madam, Miss Mona.
THE WORLD'S SEXIEST STAR IN THE WORLD'S SEXIEST MUSICAL
Having achieved superstardom in the world of film, television recording
and the concert stage, the legendary Ann-Margret makes her theatre debut
in a spectacular new production of this Broadway smash hit. The brand
new production features new music written especially for Ann-Margret, and
lavish new costumes designed by Bob Mackie. Two-time Tony winner
Thommie Walsh - the show's original co-choreographer - directs and choreographs.
Produced by Manny Kladitis, the show features a book by Larry L. King and
Peter Masterson, with music and lyrics by Carol Hall.
Frequently courted by Broadway producers, Ann-Margret had searched
for years for the right vehicle as her theatre debut before choosing the
role of the tough, loving brothel madam Mona Stangley in the Tony-winning
The
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. One of the world's most glamorous
stars, Ann-Margret is also one of the most honored, with two Academy Award
nominations (Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge and Tommy), six
Emmy nominations (including Life of the Party: the Pamela Harriman Story,
The Two Mrs Grenvilles and A Streetcar Named Desire), five Golden
Glove awards and three "Female Star of the Year" awards from the United
Motion Pictures Association. Among her many other credits ar the
films Bye, By Birdie; Viva Las Vegas; Grumpy Old Men and
Any
Given Sunday, as well as the TV films Scarlett, Showtime's
The Happy Face Murders and NBC's mini-series The Tenth Kingdom.
Her latest film, The Last Producer starring Burt Reynolds is scheduled
for released this year.
Whorehouse is the rousing musical tale of Miss Mona's Chicken
Ranch brothel, a "lil' bitty pissant country place," and a welcome neighbor
in tiny Gilbert, Texas, for more than a century. When a puritanical
TV reporter discovers the Chicken Ranch and demands its closing, the state's
hypocritical politicians (and frequent Chicken Ranch customers) are pitted
against Miss Mona and her "girls."
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas originally opened off-Broadway
in April 1978, receiving such acclaim that it moved immediately to Broadway
that June. There it received seven Tony nominations (including Best
Musical and Best Choreography), won two Tony Awards and two Drama Desk
Awards and played to sold-out houses for nearly four years.
Ann-Margret had long been sought for the role of Miss Mona by the
show's writers. Co-writer Peter Masterson said of the casting coup,
"I have wanted Ann-Margret to do Whorehouse since 1983; that's how
long I've been thinking about her playing Miss Mona."
"The role of Miss Mona is not only that of a glamorous madam,"
says composer/lyricist Carol Hall, "it's a woman with a sly sense of humor
and a great deal of wisdom.. I've always wanted to see Ann-Margret
in the part." Book writer Larry L. King, whose magazine article inspired
the musical, said, "I think the melding of the role and an actress-singer-dancer
as accomplished as Ann-Margret is a blessing for all of us - including
the lucky audience."
Based on the remarkable true story of Edna Milton and the closing
of her Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas in 1973, The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas was created by a quartet of transplanted Texans
- composer/lyricist Carol Hall, book writer Larry L. King, co-book writer
and director Peter Masterson and co-director/choreographer Tommy Tune.
The show began life as a 1974 Playboy magazine article by King,
which was developed into a musical at the venerable Actors Studio, then
grew to its off-Broadway and Broadway incarnations.
The show has fueled controversy since its inception. During
its original Broadway run, three of New York's seven TV stations refused
to run commercials with the show's title in them, making for a commercial
that never once mentioned the product it was selling. Later, the
New York City Transit Authority - bowing to pressure from the Catholic
Archbishop - ordered the removal of bus ads proclaiming, "Have Fun at the
Whorehouse!" Long a target of religious groups, the show still faces occasional
censorship. Just two years ago, Wentworth College outside Boston
closed down a student production of the show, deeming it "dangerous."
The new production promises to retain the ingeniously inventive staging,
hailed by the New York Times as "brilliant," and the good-natured sexuality
of the show, while bringing a franker, contemporary sensibility.
CAROL HALL (Music/Lyrics) received two Drama Desk for The Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas. Its song "Hard Candy Christmas"
won an ASCAP Award as one of the most performed Country Songs of 1983.
Hall was a major writer on the Emmy-winning special "Free to Be ... You
and Me" and was a contributing editor and songwriter on its sequel "Free
To Be ... A Family. " Other work includes the Off-Broadway musical
To
Whom It May Concern; contributions to A ... My Name is Alice
and A ... My Name is Still Alice and ten years of songs for "Sesame
Street." Her cabaret evening The Songs of Carol Hall won two Bistro
Awards and a Manhattan Association of Cabaret award and continues at the
Firebird Cafe. She is currently working on a musical entitled Technicolor:
Ten Love Stories.
LARRY L. KING (Book) won a Tony nomination for Best Book of a Musical
for Whorehouse. He has written several produced plays, including
the award-winning The Night Hank Williams Died, The Kingfish, The Golden
Shadows Old West Museum and most recently, The Dead Presidents Club,
which finds Nixon, LBJ, Harry Truman and Calvin Coolidge in Purgatory and
trying to bargain their way in to see God and plead for slots to Heaven.
A native Texan, Mr. King is also the author of 13 books, hundreds of magazine
article, several TV documentaries, two screenplays and numerous short stories.
PETER MASTERSON (Book), after years as an actor on Broadway and film,
co-wrote and directed the original Broadway and London productions of The
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, winning the 1978 Drama Desk Award
for Best Director and receiving Tony nominations for both Director and
Libretto. Also on Broadway, he co-wrote and co-directed The Best
Little Whorehouse Goes Public in 1994. Off-Broadway: The Last
of the Knucklemen (1981), The Cover of Life (1994) and
The
Young Man from Atlanta (1995), which received a Pulitzer Prize.
In the last several years he has directed nine feature films, including
the Academy award-winning The Trip to Bountiful as well as Full
Moon in Blue Water, Convicts and The Only Thrill.
THOMMIE WALSH (Director/Choreographer) burst onto the Broadway scene
creating the role of Bobby in the original company of A Chorus Line.
His choreographic debut on Broadway was The Best Little Whorehouse in
Texas with Tommy Tune for which they received a Tony nomination.
He went on to choreograph the Broadway productions of A Day in Hollywood/A
Night in the Ukraine (winning Tony and Drama Desk Awards), 1982's Best
Musical Nine, Lunch Hour, My One and Only (Tony and Drama Desk Awards)
and My Favorite Year. He co-authored the book On The Line,
Creating A Chorus Line in 1990.
This engagement in is part of a coast-to-coast national tour of the show
to some 30 cities across the United States.
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