Filson Appears in Sold-Out ‘Best Little Whorehouse’

Current student, alumna also involved

SUZANNE RAMSEY
College relations staff writer

Shelbie Filson

Shelbie Filson, academic assistant and Sweet Briar box office manager, appears as “Ginger” this month in Renaissance Theatre Company’s rendition of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

The musical opened on Oct. 26 and runs for three weekends at the theater, which is located at 1022 Commerce Street in Lynchburg. All shows are sold out.

According to Renaissance’s Web site, “This happy-go-lucky view of small-town vice (and statewide political side-stepping) recounts the good times (and the demise) of the Chicken Ranch, known since the 1850s as one of the better pleasure palaces in all of Texas.

“Governors, senators, mayors and even victorious college football teams frequent Miss Mona’s cozy bordello ... until that puritan nemesis Watchdog focuses his television cameras and his righteous indignation on the institution!!”

Filson has been a fan of the musical for years. “I knew the show first from the movie, which is kind of cheesy,” she said, admitting to having fond memories of the 1982 film starring Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds. “The songs are really great.

“When we did the first read through, there is a really nice mix and different flavors. It’s not just goofiness going on [but] really nice lyrics and … emotions coming through in the songs.”

In what Filson called an “interesting twist,” music and lyrics for the production were written by Carol Hall Majzlin, who attended Sweet Briar in the late 1950s.

“It just adds an extra layer of excitement to doing the show,” Filson said. “I’ve never had any kind of connection to someone who had been involved with a Broadway show before, so knowing she went to [Sweet Briar] is pretty cool.”

SBC sophomore Laura Jones joins Filson on stage, playing “Linda Lou.” Last fall, she appeared in Sweet Briar’s production of “A Little Night Music.” In “Best Little Whorehouse,” she and Filson also double as “Melvin Thorpe Singers.”

“It’s a very big cast,” Filson said. “I think it’s the biggest cast [Renaissance has] ever had. The show kind of calls for a large cast of women as well as a large amount of men, so we’ve even got a lot of doubling on and it’s still a big cast.”

Filson said she and Jones are having a “great time” playing whores, but theatergoers should not expect only lighthearted fare. “You might think it’s all fluff and sex on stage but there are some stories and humanizing of the characters as well as the slap-sticky comedy going on,” she said.

For more information, visit http://www.renaissancetheatre.info/.