A Sexy, New Madam in Town

Will wonders never cease? Some theater folks have seen fit to put on a show about values--about family, love and tenderness, about civic duty and local pride.

That show, of course, is “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” with its instructive tale about bordello workers who create a nurturing environment for themselves while ministering to a whole state. The 1978 musical has returned in a production meant to serve as a vehicle for Ann-Margret. It’s making its only Southern California tour stop at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Ann-Margret is in many ways well suited to the central role of the bordello’s proprietress, Mona Stangley. Her voluptuous looks, at 60, and her husky purr of a voice are exceptionally sexy, while her ever-surprising emotional reserves lend depth to the more dramatic scenes.

Her singing, though, is a wild card. She masks her limitations well, producing a pleasant, whiskey-soaked buzz in her lower register and carefully punching higher when necessary. But Mona has five big solos, and the actress quickly exhausts her bag of tricks. Oddly, a song written specially for her--a bittersweet ‘70s pop number called “A Friend to Me,” which closes the show--sits too high in her voice and doesn’t display her to best advantage.

As the sheriff who’s sweet on Miss Mona, Gary Sandy also delivers mixed results. No stranger to musical comedy, though he’s best-known for the late-’70s sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” Sandy amusingly rolls cuss words around in his mouth as though he’s enjoying a fine chewing tobacco. But he doesn’t have the low notes for his big song, and something--perhaps the country twang he adopts for the number--throws him consistently off-pitch.

Love them or hate them, though, they’re backed by a finely honed production.

In directing and choreographing this revival, Thommie Walsh, the associate choreographer of the original Peter Masterson- and Tommy Tune-directed production, has retained many of that version’s cleverest elements.

Naughty pleasures--mostly PG-rated--are proffered in abundance, especially in the boot-stomping dance of sexual anticipation performed by the winning Texas Aggie football team as it heads to the bordello to claim its reward, and in the sultry languishing about of Miss Mona’s girls in their lacy underthings.

The men have been chosen for their long legs (the better to show off the fancy footwork), while the women have been selected for their curves. But their voices are their best assets. When the ladies break into harmony in the hauntingly beautiful “Hard Candy Christmas,” you just want to weep with pleasure.

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Today and Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $27.50-$64.50. (213) 365-3500 or (714) 740-7878. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.