THEATER REVIEW / ‘BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS’ : Risque Business : The script is fairly shabby and the songs easily forgotten, but the Port Hueneme production is a lot of raucous fun.

Those in search of wholesome family values had better steer clear of Port Hueneme until next weekend--that’s when the Cabrillo Music Theatre company concludes its production of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” at the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center.

The 1978 Broadway musical commemorates the “Chicken Ranch,” a real-life Texas brothel that ceased business about 20 years ago. In the play, it’s the bad guys who campaign for the house of ill repute to be closed down. And the only real Epiphany that takes place is when a shy novice becomes, over time, a seasoned and enthusiastic hooker.

The ladies’ business is portrayed in a fairly graphic manner, with several of them parading around in their skivvies, and a couple of the guys are even, briefly, buck-nekkid in rear view.

Moreover, the script is fairly shabby (written by Larry L. King and Peter Masterson), and Carol Hall’s songs are so anonymous that you’re likely to forget some before the singers are finished with them.

In the movie version, which starred Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, Parton added a couple of her own compositions. Don’t listen for them here.

For anybody still reading this, it’s time to let you in on a secret: the play--and especially the current production--are, on their own terms, a lot of raucous, ribald fun.

You wouldn’t want to bring anyone to whom you’d have to explain just exactly what those women do for a living. But, with two actors named “Gabriel” in leading roles, perhaps the angels are on the side of the Chicken Ranch, after all.

Linda Stigler stars as Miss Mona, the madam who worked her way from the bottom (smirk, smirk), with Mel Gordon as Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd, her former lover who might have to close down the Chicken Ranch.

The current crop of working girls are headed by Liora Danine and Holly Holst, and Moira L. Nash plays the Chicken Ranch’s maid, Jewel.

The bad guys are headed by Gabriel Arciniega as Melvin P. Thorpe, a blustering sort of Texas-cross between consumer reporter David Horowitz and a televangelist. He is the one who heads the movement to close down the ranch.

Standing somewhere in the middle, politically speaking, are Gabriel de la Vega as Senator J. T. Wingwoah and Ray Mastrovito as the governor. Bret Rundgren plays the affable singing narrator, Deputy Hogan.

There are about 50 members of the cast in all, plus an excellent live band playing offstage, conducted by David Pier.

First-time director Kevin Calvin has done a fine job in collaboration with musical director Charles Padilla and choreographers DeAnne Spicer and John Charron. Charron’s contribution, danced by several Texas A & M football players, is a real showstopper.

Also of special note is the stage set, a fine-looking and functional combination of design (by Ken Probe) and construction. Zale Morris’ costumes are colorful, though entirely too many people wear their pants inside their boots--making them look like real dudes.

* WHERE AND WHEN

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” concludes this weekend at the Dorill P. Wright Cultural Center, 575 Surfside Drive in Port Hueneme. Performances are tonight through Saturday nights at 8, with a matinee Sunday at 2 p.m. Reserved-seat tickets are $17, with discounts available for students, seniors and active military personnel. For reservations or further information, call 483-8859.

CASTING CALL

The Santa Paula Theater Center will continue auditions for its upcoming production of George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s venerable farce “You Can’t Take It with You” tonight and Saturday afternoon. The cast includes seven women between 21 and 55 years old, and 12 men between 24 and 75.

Today’s auditions will be held between 7 and 10 p.m. at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, 740 E. Main St. in Santa Paula; Saturday’s auditions will take place at the Santa Paula Theater Center, 127 S. 7th St., between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. Actors are requested to call the theater at 525-4645 to line up an audition appointment.

Director Apollo Dukakis requests that actors read the play prior to auditioning; a limited number of copies are available at Mr. Nichols Bookstore and Gallery in Santa Paula, and the play--not exactly obscure--should be available at any public library.

The play will run from Nov. 5 to Dec. 13.

*

The Cabrillo Music Theatre will hold auditions for its upcoming production of the musical “Annie” on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 19, 21 and 22. The huge cast calls for actors from 6 to 60 years old and a dog. The company is looking for ethnic diversity.

All auditions will be held at the Dorill B. Wright Cultural Center, 575 Surfside Drive in Port Hueneme. Auditions for Sandy (the dog) will take place at noon Saturday; children will audition between 1 and 5 p.m. that afternoon. Adult actors will be heard Monday and Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. You are asked to bring sheet music in the proper key, limit your song to one minute, and dress in clothing suitable for a dance audition. The production, directed by Tam Warner and choreographed by John Charron, takes the place of the previously announced “Peter Pan” on the Cabrillo group’s schedule, and will open Nov. 13.

For further information, call the Cabrillo Music Theatre at 483-8859.

*

The California Shakespeare Company will hold auditions for its upcoming production of “The Tempest,” Sunday through Tuesday, Sept. 27 to 29. The cast includes 12 men and five womenbetween 14 and 60 years old. Artist director William Fisher says he’s looking for “any actor who would like to perform in a Shakespearean production.” Auditions, which will consist of cold readings from the text, will be held Sunday, Sept. 27, at 1 p.m., Monday, the 28th and Tuesday the 29th at 7:30 at the company’s theater, 6685 Princeton Ave. (in Varsity Park Plaza) in Moorpark. For additional information, call 498-3354 or 373-9243.

*

Thousand Oaks’ Young Artists Ensemble is looking for actors and actresses between 13 and 19 years old to portray ghouls, ghosts and creatures of the night for a Halloween fund-raiser. They’re looking for “improvisation skills and outgoing personalities,” and won’t be charging a participation fee. Auditions will be at the Arts Council Center, 482 Greenmeadow Road, Saturday, Oct. 3 between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; performances will be the evenings of Oct. 30 and 31, and Nov. 1. For further information, call Mark Reyes at 499-4355.