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Show o n o nnDQOJin Park Record Thursday, October 2, 1986 Page B1 Ci33E2232S23 Choreographer puts 'Whorehouse' on dancing feet by ROBIN MOENCH Record contributing writer Choreographer Jason Ayon is keeping a watchful eye on director Craig Call. Call is up on stage lifting a dancer through a step in a routine for "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." "Don't kill yourself," Ayon calls to him. "Craig has a broken rib," he tells a visitor. Call takes off his Velcro-fastened brace when he dances and puts it back on when he directs. He fractured frac-tured his rib when he collided with another dancer during a rehearsal a couple of weeks ago. "Nothing stops Craig," says Ayon. "A couple of shows back he had just had a hernia operation and three days later... was it three days later, Craig?. ..he ran five miles." Their bond shows in their banter. They are a team. They first worked together in a production of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Sundance Summer Theatre three years ago. Ayon played Gideon, the youngest brother. Call was a brother and co-choreographer. co-choreographer. The chemistry must have been good. Since then they have teamed as choreographer (Ayon) and director direc-tor (Call) on a family-oriented videotape called "My Turn on Earth" and worked together on a children's series for the Disney Channel. Now they are together at the Egyptian Theatre. "I learned to choreograph under Craig and I think that's why he likes me to choreograph for him now," says Ayon. "We tend to have the same ideas." Ayon grew up in Las Vegas and studied dance in high school. "That was a great opportunity," he says. "There were a lot of very good dancers in Vegas and good dance teachers." He was lured to Utah when a touring tour-ing BYU modern dance company came to town. He joined some of their workshops and was invited to come to Provo. He ended up staying three years on a dance scholarship. But classroom exercises weren't enough for him. "I got tired of studying study-ing and started working for Jimmy Osmond, who was producing a series for the Disney ChanneLcalled 'The Enchanted Musical Playhouse.'" . Four episodes are completed and two more are scheduled for production. produc-tion. "Hopefully they want to do Left to right: Laura Fetto, Laura Whipple and Debbie Church rehearse a dance number from Park City Performances' ambitious production of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." The show will run through October at the Egyptian Theatre. Pulling it together: Cast, crew race the clock To the unschooled eye, it is bedlam. A weeknight rehearsal of Park City Performances' "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" is under way in the Egyptian Theatre. With opening night just days away, the pace matches the pressure. In the lobby a five-piece five-piece band runs through the score while the costumer and the producer pro-ducer discuss the merits of skimpy skim-py (but not too skimpy) at-home clothes for the girls of the house. A coffee urn, steaming for early-morning weekend rehearsals, rehear-sals, stands cold on a table. Filed in a trash bag is evidence of meals on the run: pizza boxes, doughnut cartons. A singer warms up. Dancers in tights shed coats. Passersby press curious faces to the glass lobby doors. Children of cast members ricochet up and down the light-booth steps. The director direc-tor and the female lead powwow in the impromptu privacy of the concession booth. r : r i I , U -a I r y wk -i h Vr 1 Maa-B-aaiaMwMBHBMiaMi iL'i iiniiiii Iiii'ii i MMijiiiiiiir 11 11 1 mi mm nil tir , ii-wteawatMaaiWhwaiiM ; jtiiini- imj InmMmm Left to right: Joe Onstott, M. Chase Mitchell, David Leslie Thomas, Craig Call (director) and Ayon (choreographer) are gridiron heroes in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." twenty more. It's a very slow process, pro-cess, as in most motion picture or TV stuff." He also worked, and still works, in Sundance productions, "The Wizard of Oz," "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Pippin," as well as "Seven Brides." "In 'The Wizard of Oz' I was the Mayor of Munchkin City for 42 performances. per-formances. I absolutely hated the role, but you can't let that show. That was a challenge. ..portraying that delight on stage and secretly knowing that y,pu.batedthej-ole,'U During the run of "Seven Brides" he picked up a job as a dancer in the movie "Footloose." "It was the first cattle call I'd ever seen in Utah," he says. "They must Onstage the men hurl themselves through a dance number while tech crew members cross and re-cross the stage, stocking the prop room, power-drilling a coat hook to the proscenium, teetering on a ladder lad-der to change a bulb. An actor picks up a broom to sweep the upper up-per levej of the set and a solitary female dancer stretches with high kicks. All this activity has one goal: opening night. By curtain time, all the pieces will fit together with jigsaw-puzzle precision. Almost every night for a month, the cast and crew have rushed from work to their second jobs in the theater. Many of the performers are professionals and actors' union members. A list of their collective credits shows they have done shows at the best-known best-known regional theaters Triad, Babcock, Pioneer Memorial, Promised Valley, Sundance and appeared in television and motion mo-tion pictures. Yet they have agreed to work for no pay for rrrrr -57 :Lv have auditioned over a thousand people for the 16 dancer roles. Out of that group both Craig and I were chosen to be featured dancers." Hollywood isn't generally ballyhooed for its acts of generosity, but Ayon said his experience with Paramount was a friendly one. "During the time I was doing Footloose' I was up at Sundance (in Provo Canyon) doing 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.' We were filming film-ing down in the Osmond studios (in Orem) and at that time I had no transportetion," f . . . v When director Herbert Ross heard through the grapevine that Ayon had a transportation problem, he offered to lend the dancer his limousine or have him chauffered between the PCP. They travel from Logan, Kamas, Provo, Salt Lake City, even California. One man is a cantor, another just started his own production company, a third is a student who will commute from a city near the Idaho border through the run of the musical. Another came to paint sets and stayed to sing and dance. Still another has performed in 40 professional pro-fessional productions. One woman appeared in a nationally-aired nationally-aired Coca-Cola commercial and another studied at the Royal Ballet School in London. Considering the hard work, the long hours, the time stolen from families, and the unlined pocket-books pocket-books why do they do it? "Love," said cast member Franci Eisenberg. "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" will open at the Egyptian Theatre Oct. 3 and will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Nov. 1. For ticket information, call 649-9371. studio and Sundance. "I turned it down like an idiot," Ayon says. "But it was very kind to offer." Ayon also writes music. Although he finds himself limited by physical factors in his dance career, he finds PCP's musicalsatire exposes hypocrisy, says director vkCK BROUGH Record staff writer Craig Call first directed an entire production when he did the video version of the Mormon musical "My Turn on Earth" by Lex de Azevedo. His second directing job is the Park City Performances production of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"! (The play will open at the Egyptian Theatre this Friday. ) That sounds like a drastic soup-to-nuts switch, but Call believes the two plays aren't that far apart in subject matter. "Whorehouse" is the story of a friendly Texas brothel called The Chicken Ranch, beset by moralistic crusaders and politicians. politi-cians. The play has rollicking music, wild satire and a touching romance. But its message, Call says, is a familiar religious lesson. It is a warning war-ning against the hypocrites who condemn con-demn the imperfections of others. "Why look to the mote in your brother's eye, rather than the larger mote in your own eye?" said Call. Referring to the opponents of the Chicken Ranch, he said, "These people peo-ple are so full of what's right, they can't see what's good." Despite their profession, Miss Mona, the madam and her girls are the "heart, the soul, the bright elements" of the play, he said. Miss Mona has taught her girls how to respect themselves as women. Everyone in life has a handicp, Call said. At the Chicken Ranch, the handicap happens to be prostitution. But the Ranch is condemned by people peo-ple whose handicaps and corruption are much worse. The musical takes a broad approach ap-proach to lampooning the villains of the play, who are led by the TV crusader Melvyn P. Thorpe, (played by Jason Ayon.) It is satirical, he said, but the show is broader than it is black. "The show is incredibly fun; it is meant to be enjoyed," he said. The show's central romance deals with the sheriff (played by John Per-ryman) Per-ryman) and Miss Mona (Teri Cowan) who have loved each other for 20 years. But they aren't able to say that they love each other. "Whorehouse" is about the need for communication. "They don't say what they mean, they don't get it out," Call added. He noted some interesting differences dif-ferences between the play and the film. The movie focused on Burt Reynolds' sheriff and Dolly Parton's madam and left out other characters entirely. A character named Edsel is a small-town reporter who sympathizes sym-pathizes with the Chicken Ranch, but doesn't speak out for fear of losing los-ing his job. Doatsy Mae is a woman with a sharp mind, but she's trapped in her small town. Call said his background gives a him a sympathy for the outcast. He Room Moench Jason no barriers are thrown up with music. "Being the size that I am, five-three, five-three, it's very difficult to find roles that I can portray professionally.. professional-ly.. .And since I'm young and I look very young I usually get the parts of ; FRIDAYS SATURDAYS LIVE! " r"H jf v - r 1 V l-Jj if i - - , f. f I .. ryJ s ' . zJJ. , (v . ; Director Craig Call brings sympathy to the dilemma of the small-town cathouse condemned by small-minded moral crusaders. recalled growing up in Washington D.C., where his mother took in drug addicts, alcoholics and the poor. It was hard to come to Utah, he said, where doors were slammed in people's faces. "They acted out of fear instead of goodness," he said. Call was born in Las Cruces, N.M., where his father, had a job with NASA at the White Sands Missile Range. In the early Sixties, they moved to the nation's capital. He came to Utah to attend BYU. He was interested in being a counselor, but then he met the much-respected much-respected dance teacher at BYU, the now-deceased Dee Winterton. "He made me feel something could be really contributed through dance," Call said. At the Sundance Summer Theater in Provo Canyon, he has been in a show every year for the last eight years. (His roles include the lead in "Pippin" and the Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz.") He has co-choreographed several shows with well-known Utah direc fifteen-year-olds... after two or three, they aren't challenging anymore... "In music there are no limitations. You aren't limited in how good you are by your shape, size or color. I'd like to see how far I can take that." He recently wrote the music for the pilot of a proposed anti-drug television series called "Making a Difference." "I'll be doing the music for the entire en-tire series if it becomes one," he says. "I'm realistic and it probably won't, but we all keep our fingers crossed on those kinds of projects." Ayon is young for a choreographer. Usually a good dancer will dance until, at 30, he gets too old. Then he rushes to learn the skills of choreography. Ayon, 23, has a jump on the rest of the field. "I've been a choreographer since I was seventeen," he says. "By the time I'm thirty I'll have so much choreographic experience under my belt I'll be that much ahead of anyone who's started at age thirty. And my reputation will be built that much more." In addition to choreographing "Whorehouse," Ayon dances in the Aggie number and plays TV "Watchdog" "Wat-chdog" Melvin P. Thorpe. "I think I get the most joy out of (the Thorpe part) in this production," produc-tion," he says. "It's really nice to get a character role that you can have fun with and enjoy." He sees PCP's increasing professionalism profes-sionalism as a benefit to the theater community. "We need more quality theaters in Utah," he says. "The Egyptian could be extremely successful suc-cessful if it gains a reputation for producing very good, very entertaining entertain-ing shows. It has the potential to draw the same kind of crowds as Sundance year-round. "Craig and I are happy to be in Park City," he adds. "This is our kind of town. Since I'm from Vegas, moving to Utah was kind of a culture shock and I like to feel I've found a little bit of Las Vegas in Park City. Of course, minus the gambling." tor Jayne Luke. She has also been his dancing partner since 1969. If they're ever on stage in a show, he said, they request at least one chance to dance together. Call has always wanted to helm a production. "Emotionally and spiritually, all my abilities are in a directorial position." Call is also dancing in "Whorehouse", but he broke a rib in rehearsal. He's been fitted with a cast, which he wears when he absolutely ab-solutely has to do so. "I heal rather quickly," he said. He said the play's cast has given "100 or 200 percent" and they're ready to open this Friday. "They have been very supportive. They've trusted me, which is the biggest compliment of all," he added. "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" will open Friday, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. Thereafter, it will play every Friday and Saturday night through the end of October. For ticket information, infor-mation, call the Egyptian Theater at 649-9014. V |