WHERE’S THE SCANDAL?
When I first drove past the Zephyr Theatre looking for parking, I saw what appeared to be anti-pornographic picketers on the sidewalk in front of the building. I wasn’t looking forward to wading through that melee. Well, by the time I parked and finally arrived for the show, the picketers were nowhere to be seen. Had they been dispersed? Shortly after the show began I discovered that the picketers were characters in the play. I felt conned. That feeling only partially explains how I felt about seeing The Deep Throat Sex Scandal (DTSS).
The original Deep Throat film was released in 1972. Now, forty-one years later, is it still scandalous? Not really. Adult films have never been easier to watch. Anyone with unfiltered web access can view a dizzying variety of pornography – without even paying for it. By comparison, watching Deep Throat today can seem like a rather quaint exercise. So why make a play about it? And why is there going to be a movie on the same subject released later this year?
Told from the perspective of the film’s male star, Harry Reems (Marc Ginsburg), DTSS narrates in its first half the creation of the film. It calls to mind the musical Hair with its celebration of hippy culture and the movie Boogie Nights with its celebration of disco and porn. Yet, DTSS is more than that. In its second half, the play starts to resemble The People vs. Larry Flint, the film about the publisher of Hustler magazine and his legal battles. In other words, DTSS really has nothing new to say, just different details to narrate.
DTSS is billed as “a sinfully entertaining play about freedom.” The trouble is that the play seeks to be both funny and serious at the same time, while ultimately failing at both. For example, writer David Bertolino lightens what could have been a serious courtroom scene with poor jokes and bad writing. Gerry Damiano (Herschel Savage), the director of Deep Throat, is made to relate during his court testimony that there are only four film directors worth talking about, “Orson, Hitch, Kurosawa and me.” Later, at the end of the trial, the prosecutor, Larry Parrish (Frank Blocker), gives the most unbelievable concluding remarks detailing for the jury in the most exaggerated fashion the salacious sexual acts portrayed in Deep Throat. While Blocker’s performance is the funniest in the whole production, his speech could never have been uttered in a real courtroom.
Unsurprisingly, viewers of DTSS are warned that the play contains adult themes and nudity. The nudity, while full and unflinching, is never erotic and great pains are taken to prevent it from being considered pornography. Thus, when sexual acts are simulated, as in the pivotal Deep Throat scene when Harry Reems tells Linda Lovelace (Natasha Charles Parker) that her clitoris is deep in her throat, the film crew completely shields the pair from prying audience eyes. Somewhat enhancing the play’s porn credibility, its regular cast includes two veteran adult film actors, Herschel Savage and Veronica Hart, as well as guest appearances by Nina Hartley, Amber Lynn and Ron Jeremy (check the schedule for details). On the night I saw the show, Sally Kirkland and Bruce Vilanch filled the two guest roles.
Director Jerry Douglas presents Bertolino’s mediocre material as well as possible. All angles and approaches to the stage are utilized, including a slot under the screen forming the play’s backdrop through which a mattress is slid. In homage to (or slavish copying of) the Deep Throat film, clips of rocket launches are shown at the moment of Linda Lovelace’s climax. Yet, whereas the film accompanies this with ringing bells and explosions, the play features Handel’s famous Hallelujah Chorus. More typically, DTSS‘s soundtrack is pure 1970s, opening with Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.” Later, the “let me go” portion of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” lends drama to Harry Reems’ arrest and imprisonment. Other less enduring cultural aspects of the period are evoked by the cheap wigs worn by many cast members.
DTSS might be funny and entertaining at times, but so is an Adam Sandler movie. At least the latter doesn’t try to preach freedom of speech while poking fun at self-righteous Southern Baptists. There’s seems to be something slightly disingenuous and smugly liberal about DTSS. Why should we care that a low-budget adult film ushered in the era of porno chic and helped promote oral sex?
photos by Ed Krieger
Deep Throat Sex Scandal
Zephyr Theatre
scheduled to end on March 24, 2013EXTENDED (no pun) to April 14, 2013
for tickets, call 800-838-3006 or visit http://www.deepthroattheplay.com