It's
hard to imagine while watching Fanny Hill that its source material,
John Cleland's famed 18th-century erotic novel, was banned
in this country just 40 years ago. But that may be because
Ed Dixon's musical version of the once-notorious book doesn't
set out to shock -- it sets out to charm. And what starts out
as a gentle satire ends up with its tongue so far in its cheek
I'm amazed it doesn't come out the other side.
Fanny -- played by the delectable
Nancy Anderson with just the right touch of unbelievable naivete
-- is so incredibly dim she doesn't even realize that her new
benefactor, Mrs. Brown (the wonderful Patti Allison) isn't
entirely motherly, that her new "home" is actually
a bordello, and that there's no such thing in life as a free
room.
After nervously putting off
her first client, Fanny escapes Mrs. Brown's clutches -- with
her virginity amazingly intact -- and falls literally in love
with Charles (Tony Yazbeck), a foppish sailor on leave from
his ship. The two settle into a month of "wedded bliss," but
Charles is kidnapped by his shipmates and a penniless Fanny
is forced to return to the bordello. Soon enough, she not only
develops an enthusiasm for her work, but parlays it into wealth
and power. And true happiness, it turns out, is just one more
twist of fate away.
Dixon's score is rarely less
than pleasing -- if a little too insistent on easy rhymes --
and even occasionally inspiring, such as the bawdy second-act
showstopper "Every Man in London," superbly delivered
by Alllison, or the delicious "Tea Service," in which
Allison and the ladies of the house (Christianne Tisdale, Gina
Ferrall, and the sadly underused Emily Skinner) instruct Fanny
on how to behave with a client.
With Dixon having spent so many
years as the innkeeper Thérnadier in Les Miserables,
it's not surprising that he chose to adapt a property where
nobody (well, nobody important) dies and there really is a
happy ending. Personally, I'd love to see Fanny Hill have its
own happy ending: a full-scale -- and somewhat revised -- Off-Broadway
production that could truly show off its strengths.
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