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YEE - HAW!! Home
Show.. Songs.. Characters ...Productions ..Cast. .Synopsis. .Reviews .*WARNING*: This show contain material which some people may find offensive… Gingham About
the Show Written for a cast of 6 actors (4 men, 2 women) and piano accompaniment, YEE-HAW!! is an ideal small-scale musical that can be performed with minimal scenery in any kind of space. It has been produced at major regional theatres with a small orchestra. Currently it is being reworked for a cast of actor/musicians. Act 1 1.
Wagon Train/Make A Break For Freedom.. Luke/Wagonmaster/Company Act 2 1.
Sing ‘n’ Dance.. Sheriff/Hank/Cindy-May/Lulabelle/Luke.....Listen
Now Featured recording performers: Nick Sutcliffe, Peter Gallagher, Martin George, Claire Morrissey, Danny Charles, Victoria Burnham. Characters J.F. McCAYBERLY, A fancy-talking hustler who aspires to be a master criminal. Like his speech, though, his plans are over-elaborate and invariably require him to disguise himself as a woman. Lulabelle The town’s only whore, Lulabelle is reaching her sell-by date as a working girl. Realising this, she is on the hunt for a husband who will be able to keep her in the style to which she would like to be accustomed. SHERIFF WILT, The ageing yet proud sheriff of Red Rock. As the holder of such a position, he is naturally the upstanding personification of all true Western values…bigotry, blasphemy and redneckery. HANK SQUATTING DOG, As a half-breed Injun, the only employment Hank can find in Red Rock is as McCayberly’s sidekick. At the bottom of the heap, he is invariably shunned by the locals, shouted at by J.F. and shot at by Sheriff Wilt. BLACK JACK JACKSON, The second most ruthless killer in the West, who has met with a rather unfortunate accident in the Rockies. (Doubles with Hank) WAGONMASTER, Rough, tough frontiersman. (Doubles with Sheriff) YEE-HAW!! was premiered in 1998 at the Rosemary Branch Theatre, Islington, London. Nick
Atkinson The next year it was showcased by G&J at the Jermyn St. Theatre, London. Cast Nick
Atkinson Licensed by the Ambassador Theatre Group, it toured Autumn 2001 (Palace Theatre, Westcliff / Churchill Theatre, Bromley). Cast
YEE-HAW!! is currently under option to Watershed Productions and scheduled to tour in Spring 2006. Press quotes: “This
supremely silly show is destined to become a cult. It deserves
to run and run.” “A wacky parade of characters, a plot laden with surprises and very witty musical numbers…I laughed, stamped my feet and yelled with abandonment” Time Out “It’s
a little gem…a fantastic performance from Nick Atkinson…you
should rush to it.”BBC London Live, Theatre Review Act I Naïve easterner, Luke Calhoun, arrives in Red Rock with the notion that the Wild West is a decent, law-abiding land peopled by handsome, singing cowboys, friendly, half-naked natives and apple-pie baking, gingham-clad schoolmarms. Much to his dismay, this particular no-horse town is populated by real frontiers folk - whores, gamblers, thieves and a myopic, redneck sheriff who grinds Luke’s rose-tinted spectacles into the dirt. He is told in no uncertain terms to get out of town. Nobody listens to his protestations. He is just another greenhorn kid looking for a long-lost father and some hidden gold. This news pricks the ears of the shady saloon owner, J.F. McCayberly. Him and Luke’s father, Cisco Calhoun, stole a whole heap of gold, but after being double-crossed, J.F. shot Cisco in the back. The only trouble is he never found out where the gold was hidden. And now here’s Luke with Cisco’s last letter revealing in code that the booty is buried under the sheriff’s house. McCayberly fabricates a story about Luke’s father being hanged for persistent lying; there was never any gold; the best thing for Luke to do is to head back east. The
young man is downcast. He hasn’t even the money to get him
back home. Fortunately, he encounters the sheriff’s daughter,
a wild tomboy named Cindy-May. She is under her father’s
orders to become more lady-like or else he’ll send for a
deportment teacher. Trouble is, she hates wearing a dress and
has no aptitude whatsoever for household chores. J.F. is enraged to discover Calhoun sleeping right on top of the gold – unaware of the riches beneath. He tries to get the town whore, Lulabelle, to seduce him, only for Luke to convince her she could become the town schoolmarm – well, she’s got good people skills and she did get an ‘A’ in oral. In desperation, McCayberly decides he’ll have to kill the pesky tenderfoot and sends for the most ruthless killer in the west, Black Jack Jackson. This news alarms J.F.’s sidekick, a Native American called Hank. He has grown fond of Luke, being the only person in town to ever treat him with respect. Black Jack Jackson arrives and challenges our hero to a gunfight. It is plain that Luke is no match for him. Cindy-May runs off, unable to just stand and watch. As they draw there is a blackout. A shot is heard and the First Act ends.
Miraculously, Luke has survived and is made the new sheriff of Red Rock. Cindy-May’s father is happy to stand down for such a natural gunslinger – although, unknown to all, Cindy-May actually shot Black Jack Jackson. Luke has ambitious plans for the town and immediately instigates laws banning alcohol, cussing and the carrying of firearms within town limits. The commotion caused by Luke’s new statutes heralds the arrival of J.F. McCayberly - now disguised as Juanita Francesca La Vega, a beautiful Spanish deportment teacher. The former sheriff falls immediately in love. J.F. uses his new position as favourite to eject Luke from the basement and install himself in Sheriff Wilt’s house. He even proves to be a skilled deportment teacher to the tomboy and the ambitious whore, as he knows a thing or two about becoming a ‘real lady’. Luke,
meanwhile, sets about transforming Red Rock with a lick of paint,
a new coffee shop and some carefully placed throw cushions. Kidnapping Cindy-May - and humiliating Luke in the process - J.F. pulls off the first part of the plan. Luke is relieved of his duties as lawman and told once more to get out of town. Hank leads the posse off. As a parting gesture, our dejected hero drops off Cindy-May’s guns at her house. At that moment J.F. emerges from the basement carrying a chest full of gold. A shootout ensues and it quickly becomes clear that Luke is a lousy shot. It looks like curtains for the young lad, but amazingly his last bullet ricochets off various buildings and lands squarely in J.F.’s backside. He drops the gold and limps away as the posse arrives back in town. Hank led them straight to Cindy-May, making him a hero. They also saw Luke going against J.F., making him welcome in town once again. But where’s Senorita Francesca La Vega? J.F. emerges from the Sheriff’s house in his deportment teacher disguise claiming that McCayberly molested him. Hank
– the only one who knows the real story – encourages
the Sheriff to marry Senorita La Vega before anything untoward
happens to her and also tells him to post a $10,000 reward for
J.F. McCayberly…dead or alive. Senorita La Vega reluctantly
accepts Sheriff Wilt’s proposal. |