A CurtainUp Review Pageant: The Musical

Pageant, the musical comedy that sends up beauty pageants with razor-sharp edge, is being revived with a fresh infusion of testosterone this summer at the Davenport Theatre. And with the excellent Jim Bolton playing the Host (Frankie Cavalier), accompanied by a bevy of six male beauties, this is tomfoolery incarnate in eighty-five minutes of musical theatre. Who would have thunk that this little show (book and lyrics by two-time Tony nominee Bill Russell of Side Show and The Last Smoker in America fame ) would have had so much spunk and longevity in it? It began its life Off Broadway at the Blue Angel in May 1991 and then winged its way to the West End for a year-long engagement before taking flight again and being staged round the globe. It came full circle last February, returning to New York for the first time in 20 years at the Red Lacquer Club as a five-evening sold-out benefit. And with the current iteration coming on the heels of the Gay Pride Parade in June it gains a kind of political correctness that isn’t pushy in the least. The six male performers playing the beauty contestants know how to flex their comedic muscles and unapologetically are in overdrive with ambition to claim and wear the tiara. Each actor plays a wannabe representing a geographic swath of the country and all deliver their regional stereotype with pizzazz and a wink: There’s Mick Cearley (Miss Great Plains), Nic Cory (Miss Industrial North East), Alex Ringler (Miss Texas), Marty Thomas (Miss Deep South), Seth Tucker (Miss West Coast), and Curtis Wiley (Miss Bible Belt).