The cast of queens in Lewisville Playhouse’s ‘Pageant.’ (Photos by Sean Lynch)
The comedy queens rule in Pageant at the Lewisville Playhouse
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Last weekend, grown men in fabulous gowns, hair and makeup vied for top honors in Lewisville. Nope. This wasn’t one of Cassie Nova’s shows nor a very niche beauty contest. Lewisville Playhouse opened its newest musical comedy Pageant.
Director Eddie Floresca is particularly excited about helming the show as its director.
“I am Filipino and pageants for us are like the Super Bowl – especially Miss Universe,” he said. “We are so passionate about it and the country goes beserk about them.”
He details a viral video where five young Filipino men were watching Miss Universe and basically lost their shit when Miss Philippines was announced as a finalist.
When Lewisville Playhouse included Pageant into its season, Floresca was all over it.
“I knew I had to direct this one,” he said. “I choreographed it back in 2015 or 16 when Uptown Player did it. It was a lot of fun and then I know it will be again.”
Pageant runs through Feb. 25.
Floresca has his vision of the show. He didn’t want it to rely on camp – or at least extra camp. For him, the humor comes from the script, not over-the-top acting.
He also felt with the current climate about drag in general, he didn’t want to have the show seem like it was poking fun – or have audiences poking fun about the topic.
“I wanted to make this more of a real pageant. These aren’t drag queens, they are beauty queens and I really wanted the actors to embody these characters,” he said.
The show stars Mikey Abrams as Miss Deep South, Logan Gaconnier as Miss Bible Belt, Michael B. Moore as Miss Texas, Andrew Carroll as Miss Great Plains, Jorge Martin Lara as Miss Industrial Northeast and Jared Johnson as Miss West Coast. Scott Bardin stars as emcee Frankie Cavalier.
Floresca didn’t want them to camp it up and act like a man acting like a woman.
“They don’t need to try harder because the dialogue and the talent show is already funny. I really hope that even with men playing women, that this can be a show about empowerment and sisterhood,” he said.
That’s great, but there’s still camp, right?
“Oh yes. The show can’t help but be funny and the cast is great,” he said. “And I think the cast is having a good time with the material. I am.”
For tickets, visit LewisvillePlayhouse.org.
