Nightingale's 'Debbie Does Dallas' is a playful romp
By KAREN SHADE, 8/20/2005
The cast of "Debbie Does Dallas," which continues Saturday at Nightingale Theatre, 1416 E. Fourth St. DAVID CRENSHAW / Tulsa World
If you break it down, "Debbie Does Dallas" has all the essentials of storytelling.
It has a protagonist (Debbie the smalltown girl and captain of her high school cheer squad), villain (fellow cheerleader Lisa) and a conflict.
Debbie -- played by Annie Ellicott -- needs passage to Dallas where her dream to become a professional cheerleader waits, but she doesn't readily have the means.
But sound narrative, character development and witty dialogue aren't the reasons the '70s porn flick became infamous. Don't look for them either in Nightingale Theater's staged version.
Instead, enjoy the musical spoof for exactly what it is -- a tongue-in-cheek comedy with rock diddies interjected for sex acts.
On the face, "Debbie" on stage might seem relatively simple for its unremarkable, deliberate language (mostly taken from the movie) and amateurish scenes, but director George Romero knows this and she cleverly scatters innuendo throughout the show rather than going for the obvious (well, most of the time).
This likely was not the case in the movie the production is based on.
Director and actors alike go for the laughs in asinine scenes and, oddly enough, it works.
When bubbly Debbie receives a letter notifying her that she's been accepted to the squad of the Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleaders, she's also informed that she has two weeks to come up with money for her own fare and boarding.
Her parents do not approve and refuse to give her the money for the trip. So she appeals to her fellow squad members for help. They decide to get jobs after school to raise money, so they can all go to Dallas.
After a week, Debbie realizes that working for $2.95 an hour won't add up quickly enough. Her boss offers her bigger money if she will let him touch her. Debbie, displaying symptoms of a conscience, doesn't think too long before agreeing. She returns to her friends and excitedly holds out two $10 bills and a $20. When she struggles to add them up, one of the nearby band members impatiently shouts the answer to her.
Mostly known as a club singer, Ellicott (also a Spot Music Award 2005 rising star nominee) is particularly earnest when she sings. Even lyrics such as "I'll be $10 closer to Dallas" sound wholehearted when she sings them.
Romero and Ellicott also don't allow Debbie to reach her goal (did you ever doubt it?) without thinking about what it all means. What have the compromises done to her? Almost nothing. The entire experience seems to have had little effect on Debbie and her friends.
Debbie is still the bright-eyed dreamer she was at the beginning and nothing is tainted for her. But even that says something about her and her world.
Dale Sams, one of three actors cast to play multiple characters, plays Debbie's boyfriend Rick, the captain of the football team. In what I venture to guess is a take on the actual performance from the film, Sams emulates an amateurish actor working with bad dialogue and the range of emotion that comes from "not getting any" because his girl-friend is too driven.
He's sad, he's angry, he's confused, and it's that quick and ridiculous. I had a good laugh. I usually had the sense that most of the cast worked to emulate the film's acting to a degree.
So what do you say about a play, a musical, that revels in its nonsense and exists to incite laughs from the root of sophomoric humor.
Aside from a few moments in a candle shop and library, "Debbie Does Dallas" on the stage is surprisingly clean given its source. I've heard more cursing on an elementary school playground at recess and as much innuendo in a Shakespearean drama.
It isn't theater in its highest, most thoughtful form, but if you avoid taking it too seriously or overanalyzing it, you might be surprised.