David Cromwell, Patti Allison and
Nancy Anderson have a wicked good time in a musicalized
'Fanny Hill.'
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A musical can't
be all bad when it features a cheery 18th century German
prostitute with a taste for S&M. The Teutonic strumpet
-- who dangles a chain and chirps, "I verk in de basement!" --
may be a supporting character, but she prepares us for the
whorehouse hijinks of "Fanny Hill." When it's working,
Ed Dixon's musical adaptation of the 1749 novel has wicked
fun following the titular lass's slide into debauchery, proving
yet again that the best satire has a naughty streak.
The object of the satire here
is the cruel urban society that could turn a girl as innocent
as Fanny (Nancy Anderson) into a lady of the night. Throughout
the delightful first act, comedy arises from the girl's wide-eyed
naivete as she misunderstands the double entendres meant to
tickle our cynical, citified ears. Fanny is alone, after all,
in not knowing what Mrs. Brown (Patti Allison) means when she
says she needs a new "daughter" to live in her
house.
Dixon's songs enhance the irony
by mimicking the airy sweetness of Anderson's perf. Their festive
melodies feel especially warped during sexual numbers like "Croft's
Serenade," in which the decrepit Mister Croft (one of
many spot-on roles played by David Cromwell) keeps asking Fanny
to remove her clothes.
It's a dark sort of laughter
that comes from watching a girl who doesn't know she's being
corrupted. Director James Brennan keeps us complicit in the
first half, never letting the actors become too self-aware.
Since the jokes aren't oversold, it means we have to be a little
bit sordid to get them.
Yet it's Fanny and Charles (Tony
Yazbeck), her equally naive suitor, who talk to the audience.
The bitter jest is that these two innocents foolishly trust
the aud as much as they trust London, but none of us are there
to help them. That's just one more way the show mocks the sweethearts
as they get sucked into hell.
Eventually, though, even Fanny
must realize she's a prostitute, and the production's tone
changes with her. Even though the bawdy fun never fully stops,
the songs get slower and the speeches more self-pitying as
Fanny loses her honor.
Allison is an excellent brassy
mama as she condemns her former johns, but the showstopper
would mean more if she shared Fanny's rue by hinting at the
ache in lines like, "I've had every man in London, I confess/And
there's not a one worth lifting up your dress."
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