'WHASSUP' AT THE PTO FOLLIES?

SCOTT CITY, Mo. -- In the Scott City PTO Follies, people do things they don't ordinarily do. When, for instance, do you think schools superintendent Roger Tatum and elementary school principal Carol Blanton last greeted each other with the immortal word "Whassup?"

The Follies, a homegrown fund raiser attended by about 400 adults and children Friday night at the Scott City High School gym concludes with a performance tonight at 7:30. Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for school-age children.

Vicki Howell is directing the Follies for the second year. She inherited the job from her mother, Jane Albrecht, who directed for 13 years beginning in the early 1970s. It started out as entertainment just for PTO members. "The first couple of years I had to call and beg people to be in it," she recalled. "After that it just snowballed. She had a cast of 125 in her final year as director.

The fund raiser died when Albrecht stopped directing, but Howell resurrected the show last year. This year's show is co-directed by Sally Porch.

People have been talking about restarting the Follies for years, Howell said. "I finally said, Let's do it'."

The skits are written by a core group of PTO members. The Follies tradition is to create skits based on popular movies or TV shows. Thus the recurring skit this year is "Survivor," in which Al Gore (coroner Scott Amick) gets voted off the island by the Heebie Jeebie Tribe, and Tammy Faye Bakker (Debbie Reddick) is rejected by the Hoochie Coochie Tribe.

Tammy Faye cries mascara tears, of course, and leaves her false eyelashes to be used as "fishing hooks, nets or hammocks."

Also performing are people who resemble and shake their booties a lot like Ricky Martin (Michael Johnson), Britney Spears (Tara Phillips) and N'Sync (Brandon Amick, Lance Amick, Jason Bickings, Tim Lowry and Jeremy Mouser). N'Sync went into the audience and were mobbed by little girls.

Scott City High School coaches Mike Umfleet and Steve O'Brien perform in the "ER" skit. Basketball coach Derek McCord is expected to be hanging around tonight during the "Mission Impossible" skit.

And don't miss the main event -- WWF stars in a wrestling match against Charlie's Angels (Bill Cartwright, Justin Braun, Jim Pinkston, Joann Lester, Joy Venable and Barb Venable). Those ladies are no angels.