Porn Cabaret ‘A Pretty Filthy Evening’ Heads to the Kirk Douglas

LOS ANGELES—Following a year and a half in development by New York’s experimental theater group The Civilians, elements of the work-in-progress musical about the adult entertainment industry, commissioned by the Center Theatre Group (CTG), will be presented Feb. 5 at 9 p.m. at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The evening is being billed as a cabaret, and is called A Pretty Filthy Evening, with the subtitle, Real Stories (and Songs) from the Folks Who Make Adult Entertainment. The finished musical will be titled, Pretty Filthy. A description of the evening on the CTG website reads, “A Pretty Filthy Evening is a fun night of music and monologues created in conjunction with The Civilians’ new project, commissioned by CTG, about the adult entertainment industry. The cabaret will also feature porn charades, prizes and special guest stars. CTG’s popular Lounge in the bar area of the theatre’s lobby will feature drinks, sandwiches and other snacks prior to the events. For A Pretty Filthy Evening, the lobby will be open for an hour after the performances for cocktails and conversation.” According to Playbill.com, "The starry evening will feature the talents of Mia Barron (The Venture Bros., The Coast of Utopia), Chris Butler (The Good Wife, Criminal Minds), Kathryn Hahn (Hung, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation, The Social Network), Paul Provenza (Northern Exposure, The West Wing), Emily Swallow (Southland, The Lucky Ones), Sam Trammell (True Blood, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem), Steven Weber (Wings, Brothers & Sisters), Rutina Wesley (True Blood, How She Move) and Bess Wohl (who is writing the book for the upcoming musical Pretty Filthy). Porn star Ginger Lynn will also make an appearance." In a short interview with the Los Angeles Times today, Michael Friedman, who was the composer-lyricist for Broadway’s Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, said the Saturday cabaret will include, “A few monologues from interviews, some of which are not in the show itself. Five songs. Some special guests, like Ginger Lynn. There will be games and prizes. We’ll play Porn Charades, where you act out porn titles.” Friedman and book writer Bess Wohl, who also was interviewed, have spent the last year or so visiting porn sets and interviewing members of the industry for the musical. Like all newbies to the biz, some of that time was spent being disabused of common perceptions they had of the industry. “Porn stars are sexy. But the making of the product is like sausage. They stop and start over. You have to wait until the guy can start again. There’s a lot of down time,” said Friedman. When asked what her strangest interview was, Wohl replied, “I went to the set of Not the Bradys XXX. That pretty much collapsed every fantasy of my childhood.” Bradys helmer Will Ryder should be very pleased to read that assessment of his on-set directorial skills. Though clearly trying to maintain a professional distance from the subject matter that is the basis of Pretty Filthy, when asked about how the world of adult entertainment differs from that of Andrew Jackson, Friedman sounded like a true porn fan. “Actually musical theater is very similar to porn,” he said. “It’s a fantasy about attractive people who do cool things. It’s a place you go to learn what you like. Porn knows more than you do about what you want.” It will be interesting to see if Friedman still believes that when, a year or so from now, the DVD for Not Pretty Filthy XXX is released. The Kirk Douglas Theater is located at at 9820 Washington Boulevard in Culver City. Tickets to A Pretty Filthy Evening are $25 or $10 for Douglas season ticket holders. Adult 18 years of age and over only will be admitted. Information about CTG’s cabaret performance of A Pretty Filthy Evening can be found here.