Audience gets to be part of ‘Pageant’ fun
The girls are back in town – the “Pageant” girls, that is.
For the fourth time in the past two decades, Roxy’s Downtown (formerly Cabaret Oldtown) will host the spoofy Miss Glamouresse Contest with six contestants competing in swimsuit, talent, evening gown and spokes-model categories.
The kicker, of course, is that the girls are all guys in gowns, singing and dancing and sincerely dedicating themselves to world peace and Glamouresse makeup products.
And many times, says artistic director Christine Tasheff, who produced the first three “Pageants” in 1997, 2000 and 2003, audiences forget that they are guys because they play it straight rather than as a campy drag show.
“We’ve had audience members swear that some of the contestants were real women until they came out for a curtain call as themselves,” Tasheff says with a laugh. “It’s wonderful to hear audiences laugh like that. It’s probably my favorite show.”
With music by Albert Evans and book/lyrics by Bill Russell and Frank Kelly, “Pageant” debuted off-Broadway in 1991 and has played all over the world. It was just nominated as best musical revival of 2015 by New York’s Drama Desk Awards.
Tasheff says five judges are chosen from the audience before each show to vote for their favorites and crown the winner, which can be different each performance. That means the contestants are prepared to create partially scripted but somewhat ad-libbed finales – described as “controlled chaos” – depending upon who is crowned.
“I’ve checked on other productions around the country on YouTube over the years, and I always feel that our girls are prettier. They don’t have eyebrows painted halfway up their foreheads or boobs that are too big. There’s nothing raunchy or campy,” says Tasheff, who also designed the costumes.
Directing and choreographing is Kyle Vespestad, who is also back for his fourth time as Miss West Coast, delightfully ditzy blonde Karma Quinn, who, he proudly notes, won more times in the 1997 “Pageant” than any other contestant. “I beat Miss Texas the final performance to break a tie,” he says with a laugh. “We kept a running tally backstage.”
Vespestad, who has perfected a memorable giggle that captures the essence of Miss West Coast, concedes that the character herself is so laid-back she really doesn’t care who wins.
“When I first played her, I knew she was blonde, and I knew she was a ditz, but I didn’t want her to be a caricature. When I put on the wig and the costume, she suddenly appeared and became a reality for me,” says Vespestad, who also directed the 2000 and 2003 versions. “She’s a little dumb, but she’s always happy just to be there. She doesn’t really care if she wins. I thought about doing a different role this time, but she has become my favorite.”
Playing Miss Texas, Kitty-Bob Ames, the haughty pageant professional who (with a little help from daddy’s money) has never lost a crown, is Joe Consiglio (Crown Uptown’s “Spring Awakening,” “White Christmas”). Playing somewhat klutzy Miss Industrial Northeast, also known as Consuela Manuela Rafaella Lopez, is Ryan Erhsman (Roxy’s recent “Cougar the Musical,” Crown’s “Godspell”).
Erik Gosnell, making his Wichita debut, is righteously determined Miss Bible Belt, Ruth Ann Ruth, who believes that her competing is divinely inspired. Brad Purkey is back for his fourth time as Miss Deep South, Laurinda Summerford, the consummate Southern belle whose talent is ventriloquism.
And Dylan Mark Lewis is Miss Great Plains, Bonnie Louise Cutlett, who is deeply honored to represent the honest country folk of the Great Heartland.
“Bonnie is definitely not your usual glam pageant girl,” says Lewis, familiar from Crown’s “Spring Awakening” and for frequent performances at Mosley Street Melodrama. “She is pretty innocent. I see her as someone a bit out of her element. She’s kind of plain and not every exciting. Her favorite color is beige.”
But Lewis says her lack of polish is the key for his approach to the role.
“I always like to have sort of a crutch to play with in creating a character: a limp, a black eye, a quirkiness, or in this case, Bonnie being sort of mousy. I can work with that,” Lewis says. “When I was offered the role, what made me nervous was the idea that I would be playing her as a real woman, not a wink-wink, nudge-nudge man in a dress. This is real acting, not camping it up like ‘Some Like It Hot.’”
Playing the genial pageant host is Don Winsor as Frankie Cavalier, a third-tier local celebrity who never really had the breaks to go big-time.
“Frankie is very sincere. He’s definitely a Bert Parks type, although he was never as successful. I think of him more like John Davidson. He’s not smarmy or cheeseball, although the pageant itself is,” says Winsor, who is known as the ghoulish zombie host of the late-night “Dead Martin Variety Show” that Roxy’s has once a month for Final Friday celebrations.
“I’m enjoying this character because he’s not playing it for cheap laughs at the expense of the girls. He’s not condescending, cynical or ironic when he sings that the contestants have ‘Something Extra.’ He lets the audience figure it out for themselves rather than hit them over the head,” Winsor says.
This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Audience gets to be part of ‘Pageant’ fun."