Originally opened in 1989, "Co-Ed Prison Sluts" has returned to The Annoyance Theatre after an 11-year run the first time around. Boasting itself as "the longest running musical in Chicago," Co-Ed Prison Sluts is a puerile attempt at prison humor, with wildly creative themes such as "don't drop the soap," "fat men in wigs and dresses" and "a clueless warden."
Originally spawning from the director's whim of "wanting to see a clown fight a drag queen," the play's creative genius only goes downhill from there. The plot revolves around the inane conversations of a group of prison inmates, ranging from a 12-year-old peeping tom to a man obsessed with hamsters to a delusional actress who thinks prison is an elaborate stage performance. Interspersed are songs about the hardships of prison life and how each of the inmates came to be locked up. Romances bloom, charades-prompted knife fights ensue and plenty of expletives are uttered, including a ditty that incorporates George Carlin's seven words you can't say on television, which is admittedly quite catchy. The shock-tactic humor, while garnering many chuckles at first, became old quickly as the shelf life of blow-job hilarity is about as long as an Olsen-twins run at the box office.
The light at the end of the glory hole, as it were, comes from sadist Henry (Thomas Whittington), whose wry, sociopathic quips provided much-needed subtlety when weighed against the song about raping children and the masturbatory escapades of the prison psychiatrist/drag queen. Similar kudos go to Dame Toulouse (Ellen Stoneking), whose dirty improvisations of classic works ("Alas, poor Yorick, I blew him") were a source of much unexpected giddiness.
It's worth noting that the audience seemed to love the performance—though two-thirds had already seen it, so perhaps it gets more tolerable with multiple viewings (just like George Clooney movies).
Reviewed by Centerstage!
Map it