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CNN Sunday Morning
'Debbie Does Dallas' Sensation Off-Broadway
Aired November 24, 2002 - 11:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It used to be a cliche for a porn flick; now it's a New York sensation. As CNN's Jason Bellini takes a look at the latest way "Debbie Does Dallas."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIE RENE SCOTT, "DEBBIE" (singing): I want to be someone, I want to be great, in that blue and white outfit in the Lone Star State...
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hardcore porn as off-Broadway drama. First, to answer the most obvious question, there is no nudity, only simulated sex acts, like in the scene that follows this one. In the stage adaptation of what is perhaps the best known pornographic film title of all time.
SCOTT: I play Debbie. And Debbie's a girl from a small town who has big dreams of making it into the Dallas Cowgirls.
(singing): I need not tell you, this is the highest honor the world of professional cheerleading can afford you.
I think of it as a classic American dream.
BELLINI: To reach the honor, Debbie funds her journey to the big city by turning to the world's oldest profession.
SCOTT: OK, Mr. Greenfield (ph), I'll show them to you.
ERICA SCHMIDT, PRODUCER, "DEBBIE DOES DALLAS": In 1979, when the film came out, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were -- or Texas Cowgirls, that's what you're supposed to say, were a really, really big deal. They were in themselves as embodiment of a paradox -- like, here is something really innocent but really sexual at the same time.
BELLINI (on camera): How did you prepare for this role?
SCOTT: I prepared for it by remembering who I was when I came to New York from a small town.
BELLINI (voice-over): On its artistic merits, the show has gotten mixed reviews. "The New York Times" compared it to a bad "Saturday Night Live" sketch. But the audience on this night did seem to get a kick out of it. Some even deriving meaning from the mischievous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a serious undercurrent to the whole thing too.
BELLINI (on camera): Oh, there is? What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just, you know the choices, as Debbie said so often in what, you know, what you do to get what you want.
SCOTT: There are people that -- whose dreams are so pure and so honest when they start out. And just to achieve those pure and honest dreams, they do sometimes impure things.
(singing): I'm a small town girl far away from the big time, but if I start now, I'll be one step closer to my dream.
BELLINI (voice-over): Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 24, 2002 - 11:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It used to be a cliche for a porn flick; now it's a New York sensation. As CNN's Jason Bellini takes a look at the latest way "Debbie Does Dallas."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIE RENE SCOTT, "DEBBIE" (singing): I want to be someone, I want to be great, in that blue and white outfit in the Lone Star State...
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hardcore porn as off-Broadway drama. First, to answer the most obvious question, there is no nudity, only simulated sex acts, like in the scene that follows this one. In the stage adaptation of what is perhaps the best known pornographic film title of all time.
SCOTT: I play Debbie. And Debbie's a girl from a small town who has big dreams of making it into the Dallas Cowgirls.
(singing): I need not tell you, this is the highest honor the world of professional cheerleading can afford you.
I think of it as a classic American dream.
BELLINI: To reach the honor, Debbie funds her journey to the big city by turning to the world's oldest profession.
SCOTT: OK, Mr. Greenfield (ph), I'll show them to you.
ERICA SCHMIDT, PRODUCER, "DEBBIE DOES DALLAS": In 1979, when the film came out, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were -- or Texas Cowgirls, that's what you're supposed to say, were a really, really big deal. They were in themselves as embodiment of a paradox -- like, here is something really innocent but really sexual at the same time.
BELLINI (on camera): How did you prepare for this role?
SCOTT: I prepared for it by remembering who I was when I came to New York from a small town.
BELLINI (voice-over): On its artistic merits, the show has gotten mixed reviews. "The New York Times" compared it to a bad "Saturday Night Live" sketch. But the audience on this night did seem to get a kick out of it. Some even deriving meaning from the mischievous.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a serious undercurrent to the whole thing too.
BELLINI (on camera): Oh, there is? What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just, you know the choices, as Debbie said so often in what, you know, what you do to get what you want.
SCOTT: There are people that -- whose dreams are so pure and so honest when they start out. And just to achieve those pure and honest dreams, they do sometimes impure things.
(singing): I'm a small town girl far away from the big time, but if I start now, I'll be one step closer to my dream.
BELLINI (voice-over): Jason Bellini, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
