Whoa, Brittania! Panic at the BBC! The year is 1944, America's favorite singing cowboy Tex Riley and his troupe are late for a special broadcast at the BBC in London. Out of desperation, Mabel, their tour manager, and Miles, the frantic young producer, grab whomever they can — a snobby announcer, an amiable sound man, a passing soap opera actor — slap them into costume, hand them scripts (after all, it's radio!) and shove them in front of the studio audience. The resulting performance is one England will never forget.
Also available in a special holiday version, Chaps! A Jingle Jangle Christmas.
"Combine Monty Python and Tex Ritter, and you get a bloody funny singing buckaroo!" - Herald News
"Beautiful harmony...sparkling energy...exquisitely timed...an endearing production." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, One of 2005's Top 10
"...ropes in the audience with plenty of laughs." - The San Diego Union-Tribune, Critics Choice
"Winning performances!" - Los Angeles Times
"...a rootin' tootin' good time... as wholesomely western as a festival of Gene Autry movies." - North County Times
"Just the ticket to take away the blues." - KPBS, San Diego
"Opening night standing ovation!" - The San Diego Reader
"...a hoot...entertaining hoedown." - Seattle Times, Critics' Pick Best Bets
"...rustles up a stampede of old-time radio nostalgia and campy humor." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"… you’ll find yourself humming along and laughing as sagebrush and longhorns join forces with a spot of tea and a stiff upper lip.” - Seattle Times
"… madcap comedy, serious drama, high adventure and wistful romance …”
- The Weekly Herald
”a hit summer musical … the perfect balance between the puns and the poignancy.”
- Seattle Gay News
”Lassos the audience [and sends them] howling with laughter”
- City Living Seattle
Chaps! had its world premiere at the Hope Summer Repertory Theatre, Holland, Michigan, in May 1995
. Artistic Director, David Colacci. Producing Director, Mary Schakel. Directed by Jahnna Beecham & Malcolm Hillgartner. Musical Arrangements by Malcolm Hillgartner & Chip Duford.
