Jumping Jack Flesh

The standard-issue high school cheerleader is a baby-fatted, gawky teen destined for marriage and motherhood, but what of the preternatural beauty who realizes all she needs is that one lucky break or a good agent? In the 1978 skin flick Debbie Does Dallas, a naive pep squad pools its sexual efforts to purchase their plucky captain a bus ticket to the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders tryouts. Now, adapted by Erica Schmidt and presented by Artists' Theatre Project, Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical gets a new, er, mounting with a cast of eight belting out enough bawdy lyrics and filthy innuendo to make your seat sticky. Who needs sex when you can have showtunes? The show will be presented at Soul Invictus Gallery & Cabaret, and Soul Invictus honcho David Salcido says "there are scenes that are staged word for word, just like the movie, and having musical numbers take the place of blatant sex gives the whole thing a playfully tongue-in-cheek flavoring and makes the inane dialogue in between seem almost ironic." (And, according to most critics, gut-bustingly funny.) Director Jim Linde also feels there's a message under the skin: "If asked to surrender your integrity in order to attain your goals, don’t let it stop you -- just redefine 'integrity.'"
Fri., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 17, 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 18, 7 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 23, 8 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 24, 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 25, 7 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 30, 8 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 1, 8 p.m., 2007