Fort Myers Florida Weekly

Musical comedy parodies landmark porn movie




Heather Kopp as Debbie Benton. COURTESY PHOTO

Heather Kopp as Debbie Benton. COURTESY PHOTO

Musicals can be inspired by various things: blockbuster movies, children’s books, classic novels, the lives of famous musicians.

But “Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical” may be the first time one’s been based on a pornographic movie.

“It’s a funny, funny play, a funny concept,” says Allan Kollar, director of the Venice Theatre’s current production. “If you take probably one of the best-known adult films ever, and do a musical of it, that idea of that is so absurd that it just makes people laugh.”

The show, which runs through May 20, sold out its opening weekend, and the box office continues to do a brisk business.

From left: Jasmine Deal as Tammy, Alana Opie as Lisa, Heather Kopp as Debbie, Morgan Graves as Donna and Ariella Pizarro as Roberta. COURTESY PHOTO

From left: Jasmine Deal as Tammy, Alana Opie as Lisa, Heather Kopp as Debbie, Morgan Graves as Donna and Ariella Pizarro as Roberta. COURTESY PHOTO

“When you say, I’m doing ‘Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical,’ most people look a little bit puzzled, and that makes me smile,” Mr. Kollar says.

Some, he theorizes, will attend just because they’re curious, though he doesn’t say if they are curious (yellow) or curious (blue.)

“There are a lot of people who want to see ‘Oklahoma!’ and ‘South Pacific,’ and those who are bored with those and wouldn’t come to see them. We can do Shakespeare and ‘Debbie Does Dallas,’ we can do ‘Stuart Little’ and then ‘The Rocky Horror Show.’ We try to provide theater for everyone.”

“Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical” follows the plot of the movie — and yes, there is one. As in most porn movies, plot is just a device — or excuse — to string together the sex scenes.

So you have Debbie, a high school senior, who has been invited to try out for the Texas Cowgirl Cheerleaders. But the organization won’t pay for her to travel to Texas, and her parents won’t pay her way, either. So Debbie and her fellow cheerleaders conceive a surefire fundraiser — selling sexual favors in exchange for cash.

At the end (spoiler alert!), Debbie winds up “selling” her virginity in order to make enough money to fund her trip.

It isn’t until the end of the musical (and the movie) that one of the girls realizes, “We never considered doing a bake sale!”

Mr. Kollar admits to watching some of the movie for research purposes. He was underage when the film was initially released in 1978, so he hadn’t seen it before. But he must be the only man in history to have “zipped through the naughty bits to actually watch the scenes (with dialogue.)

“If you’re going to parody something, you have to know what you’re parodying,” he reasons.

Easily 75 percent of the dialogue in the musical is verbatim, he says.

During rehearsals, the actresses, wanting to get it right, would ask him questions about their lines.

“I told them, ‘It was probably written in two minutes so they could get from one sex scene to another, so don’t overthink it.’”

The musical is set up to be very cinematic, like a movie, Mr. Kollar says.

“It goes from scene to scene to scene, rather than like a traditional play, where things will flow a little bit more. The challenge was to keep it flowing and bring the comedy out within this sort of odd structure.

“But I have good performers with no fear. We talked about the style we were looking at — a certain amount of overthe top comedy without going too far. And, of course, my performers all bring a lot to the table, too.”

Comedy, he admits, can be difficult to direct, “but it always came naturally to me.”

Much of what he learned about comedy came from watching the old Warner Bros.cartoons starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

“They’re a master class in the timing and technique of comedy,” he says.

While audience members can expect a fair share of laughs, those expecting nudity will be disappointed. There isn’t any in the musical.

“If this story required nudity, we would’ve done it,” Mr. Kollar says, “but it doesn’t. The focus is on the comedy, not the sex.”

And let’s not forget the music.

Getting Debbie done

The musical was conceived, written and originally produced by Susan L. Schwartz (who also played the role of Debbie) at the New York Fringe Festival. (Music and lyrics by Andrew Sherman, Tom Kitt and Jonathan Callicutt.) The musical then opened off-Broadway in 2002.

“There’s a lot of the type of humor where, when you think you’re going to see something, it’s blocked by a box or a table or a shower curtain,” explains Heather Kopp, who’s playing the titular role in Venice.

“It is risqué, sort of. It’s kind of fun to kind of let the audience fill in the blanks, because we’re not being as nasty or revealing as people might expect.”

It is, however, explicit in its discussion and re-enactment of sex acts.

Ms. Kopp, who turns 31 this month, had never seen the movie, so she watched it on the internet.

“You can find everything on You- Tube,” she jokes.

She did it, she says, “as character research for this show. …These girls in the original movie were not hired for their acting ability, that’s for sure. I believe they were hired on the basis that it could make them a star. Their acting is just horrible; it’s so bad. But men don’t care. That’s not the reason they came to see the movie.”

She describes the movie’s philosophy as, “Let’s find this loose cast and surround it with a bunch of sex scenes,” and the musical’s as, “Let’s have this loose plot and surround it with a bunch of musical numbers.”

The musical skirts around the movie’s graphic sex scenes by parodying them.

“In the actual movie, there is a scene where one of the girls is at her job in a candle store,” Ms. Kopp says. “And, left alone to her own devices … well, let your mind go from there. In our show, we do a tap dance based around that particular scene. You see the girls come out with their tap shoes on, holding these very phallic-shaped candles. And the whole audience laughed.”

Ms. Kopp, who lives in Sarasota with her husband, also a performer, stepped into the role as an emergency replacement.

“Heather is the perfect person for the show,” Mr. Kollar says. “She’s … strong enough to carry the show, (but also has) a certain naiveté without appearing stupid. It’s a very hard balance, but Heather does it like a champ. Of course, she also sings and dances very well, too, so that helps.”

Ms. Kopp had heard the phrase “Debbie Does Dallas” before, but hadn’t realized it was a pornographic movie.

She can’t believe she’s doing the show, she says, because she sings in her church choir at First United Methodist in downtown Bradenton.

“I went to church yesterday, and they were all saying, ‘Hi, Debbie!’ Everyone is wonderful. I’ve been singing there for 10 years. I feel like I’m in a roomful of grandmothers telling me I’m doing a porn musical. A few of them have come to see the show, and a few of them have told me they have tickets. They’re so excited! So needless to say, there are church people coming to see this show, so it’s not ‘that bad.’”

She’d originally told her in-laws, who see her in every show, not to come, but then changed her mind.

Her mother-in-law told her, “We may be getting older, but we’re certainly not prudes.”

Audiences may be initially trepidatious, but warm up to the craziness happening onstage.

“You take something that can be labeled ‘disgusting,’ and you put a cheesy twist to it, and suddenly it’s hysterical,” Ms. Kopp explains.

The musical, which includes an intermission, is “an hour-and-a-half of insane energy,” she says. “We’re going to exhaust them from laughter — that’s the plan.”

And everyone is guaranteed a happy ending.

‘Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical’

>> When: Through May 20

>> Where: Venice Theatre, 140 W. Tampa Ave., Venice

>> Cost: $32

>> Information: 941-488-1115 or venicestage.com

>> NOTE: Adult content, not recommended for children or pre-teens. Audience discretion advised.

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