Hi, How Can I Help You? Free

United States Election Day, 2008, and the working girls in the Enchanted Battle, a house of domination, are under no illusions about how the outcome will affect them. Not one jot. In Scout Durwood's tough little one-woman musical show, they bicker about politics, entertain their clients in a manner that calls for non-penetrative interaction and demonstrate their roller-skating abilities.

Durwood is punctilious in her creation of layered samples on which she builds her songs. She has a clear voice that can switch styles, but is not so accomplished when it comes to accents – the discovery that one of the half-dozen characters she peoples this show with is supposed to be English comes as something of a surprise.

Structurally, the piece needs a lot more definition. Director Lucile Scott could do a lot more to help her to find more subtle ways of differentiating each character as she flits between them. The writing doesn't help too much either. There is a narrative arc, of sorts, but all feels as if it were thrown together at the last minute from a selection of burlesque routines, songs and character comedy. Her political point concerning the hypocrisy of the New York legislature is worth making, but is not made effectively.