This two-act Broadway style musical comedy centered around three widows with completely different backgrounds, who are brought together when living in an old schoolhouse now converted into an upscale apartment building on Walnut Hill in the small town of Zionsville, Indiana.
HORTIE, is a well-known fashion designer and creator of The Hortie Wells clothing line of Marshall-Fields in Chicago; HALCY, the straight-laced housekeeper for a wealthy pharmaceutical family in Indianapolis, and LULU, a legendary folk and country singer from Bent Fork, a tiny community in the back hills of Kentucky. The trio of widows are joined by a fourth widow, MRS. JOHNSON, whose daughter, JODY MARIE, an archeologist falls for HORTIE’s nephew, LT TOMMY T, a JAG Officer at the Naval Station, Great Lakes, in Chicago.
They join forces to fight Zionsville’s newly elected Mayor Clifford P. Cotton…the third, who wants the sizable property…Walnut Hill, the apartment building now sits on. The threatened widows become …”mad as wet hens” causing all kinds of mischievous problems to the corrupt mayor…much to the enjoyment of Zionsville residents. They discover an historical fact about the old school and Zionsville…a discovery that proves there is more than one way to “skin a cat!”
The hilarious two-act theatrical production is heavily laced with Hoosier dialect and colloquialisms, intertwined with memorable music that is sometimes beautiful, often poignant, and frequently…just plain foot-stomping fun. It is a delightful musical score brilliantly orchestrated by Nathan Raught, MME.
♫ MUSIC
- OVERTURE
- EVERYTHING I NEED
- I LOVE LIFE
- AIN’T SHE SOMETHIN’ SPECIAL
- NOT A LITTLE BIT LIKE ME
- YOU GOT US
- OLD TIM BROOKS (PUBLIC DOMAIN – 1917)
- ENTR’ACTE
- CLIFFORD P. COTTON …THE THIRD
- LATE NIGHT SATURDAY BLUES
- DON’T GET CONNECTED TO A SAILOR
- EVERYTHING I NEED (REPRISE)
- WHY THE HECK ARE WE HERE?
- NEVER GIVE UP