Pageant at Playlovers

It's 11.05 pm on Sat 26th April and Rob and I just arrived home from seeing Pageant !!! Wow, my head hurts from laughing so much and my voice is hoarse from cheering!!! Go and see this show -it is fantastic. Congratulations to Kimberley for putting it together and also to the talented cast. Loved the costumes, the "talent competitions" - how did Miss Texas dance (and skip!!) on those platform shoes???? Miss Deep South's amazing triple act with her "friends" - don't want to give away too much!! and Miss Industrial North East's spokesmodel demo was hilarious. Loved Frankie's hair too!!
Congratulations to the boys (girls) - you were wonderful - I've already phoned my family to tell them to get down there and see it!!!
You go girls, Jo.

Thanks, Jo for your review and words of encouragement! Glad you appreciated the skipping...certainly a case of one heel misplaced and Bob's-your-auntie! Shows come and go but this is one show that I'm not looking forward to closing night - the cast, crew and 'bosses' (director, MD and choreographer) have been such a wonderful team that the entire rehearsal process has been pure delight, and i dare say i will miss it when it finishes. Anyway, thanks again!!
Miss Texas

I saw 'Pageant' last night, a small audience, well it WAs mid-week. I can only add my voice to the two previous postings GO AND SEE IT!!
We didn't stop laughing from go to whoa.

If that's what "Glamouresse" cosmetics do for a person then I can hardly wait to get some!
I need hardly add that the costumes by Terry were absolutely amazing, Miss Texas cow-girl outfit has to be seen to be appreciated, I understand the shoes are yours Drew.

I guarantee you'll never watch another Beauty Pageant without rmembering this one.

Thou errant pottle-deep barnacle!

I went to see a most brilliant show last night. One that I recommend TO THE MAX!

Part of their publicity saysÂ…..

“Critics have raved about this uproarious musical comedy spoof of American beauty pageants. The London Times declared, "Forget Miss Saigon. Go see Miss Glamouresse," and The New York Times described the show as "screamingly funny".”

As for screamingly funny – that really is not far from the truth. Although played by men, the girls are so convincingly girlie, that I swear I could recognise some of them as people I’ve met.

Mark was a lucky one and was asked to be a judge. For a poor boy with a headache, he laughed until he wheezed and it was only when the show ended and the lights came up that he remembered he wasnÂ’t feeling well!

I really can’t stress enough how much you need to go and see this show – it’s a great night out, well directed, the music is fantastic, the characters are realistic, the dancing and other 'talent acts' are excellent. Even the MC Frankie is as slick as you could imagine. Too many good bits to mention – and I don’t want to spoil the surprise for anyone.

Well done Kim!

So – DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR! Go and see it.

I dare anyone to tell me it isnÂ’t damn good fun!

[%sig%]

Thankyou to all the people who've made such lovely comments. We really appreciate your compliments.

Kimberley
Director of Pageant
on behalf of the cast and crew

Well , I raved about Pageant so much to my family that they're seeing it tonight (even my dad who only goes under sufference to plays even if I'm in them!!) Keep up the great work guys!!
Jo

Rather than go into my own set of superlatives, suffice it to day that I went on Friday night & laughed myself sore. Costumes were gorgeous & it didn't take long to get past the novelty of men in drag & just enjoy the actual show. I particularly liked the talent numbers & the finale. The show was extremely entertaining, with energetic performances from one & all. Thanks to everyone involved in bringing this little treat to us.

'Nuff said - just go.

(PS Misses Great Plains & Industrial Northeast wuz robbed!)

forgot to mention that Playlovers did a fantastic job setting the ambience with the disco lights on the whitegums outside Hackett Hall - that plus the wonderful scrapbook excerpts with favourits snapshots of the contestants added a lot to our "theatre-going experience". Loved the contestant bios in the program & I also think the badges were a brilliant idea! I know a few people who wanted to collect the whole set...

(I am not going to rave on about the gorgeous & talented Drew, as I understand he becomes intolerable in the dressing room... love ya lots, though!)

This is truly one of the funniest shows you will see this year, and possibly, ever. Pack your asthma meds though, cos this Wheezing Writer was caught short....

No other club could have done these costumes justice, the way Plovers and specifically Terry has. Each of the girls look amazing in everything they wear! And can someone please tell me why, BOYS look so much fucking better in skimpy outfits than ME???!!!!!!! @!#$ IT!!!!!

You will grow to adore each and every contestant. With the possible exception of Miss Texas, as she is horrible little BITCH! {(I’m sorry, I had to be nasty, cos she’d be a NIGHTmare backstage had I been kind.) I’d also like to add that I’ve a secret crush on her, “The Love That Dares Not Speak It’s Name” and I wouldn’t want her stripped of her crown…so I won't mention my crush in this forum.....} but I digress…….!!

The talent sections will kill you. They really will!!!! Miss Industrial North East especially, will cause undue agony in the tummy and facial regions. Ohmababbyjesus!

Well done to Kim, cast and crew. You have put together an absolutely delightful show. The script is brilliant, the set PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK, characterisation spot on and the choreo WELL wickid!

My one snipe, and itÂ’s minor, is that the band does tend to drown out the singing. We were in the front and I was straining to hear. The lack of volume may well be attributed to the nayying and guffawing happening around me, but I thought it worth a mention.

Go see this whilst you have a chance y'all, because it is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!

J x

I laughed so hard I nearly puked!

I went to see Pageant on comp tickets and loved it so much, I'm gonna pay to see it again and bring a bunch of people with me.
You have to see this, the ladies are hilarious. The costumes are gorgeous (why have I never gotten costumes like that?), the talents, oh the talents. They started with a real humdinger and I thought to myself "self, there is no way they can match, let alone top that" and they did, time after time.

Do yourself a huge favour and go see Pageant.

Melissa

I went and saw Pageant last night at Playlovers. Oh god. I thought I was going to expire. I'm not a big laugher, but I think I can honestly say last night I belly laughed as much as I usually do in a year.

The reason no-one has really written a proper critique type review of this show (and the reason you're not going to get one from me) is that knowing too much about it will spoil it for you. Just take the word of all the people you have heard raving about it and go and see it. If you've never been to Playlovers before, this is the show to start with.

Now if Blood Relations and Elephant Man are even HALF as funny, I'm in for a great weekend!


GO MISS GREAT PLAINS!!!!!!!!!!!! GO MISS DEEP SOUTH!!!!!!!!!!


Leah

One would assume that in the world of Independent Theatre (with widespread shortages of young men and an over-abundance of gorgeous young women) it sounds like a good idea to run a show about a beauty Pageant. Lots of room to cast lovely young girls and give them a chance to show off their skills,only needing a couple of men to be involved at all.

It seems less reasonable to use young men to play the young ladies. Surely,when some shows are struggling to find enough men to flesh out a bedroom farce, much less being picky about the men being age appropriate, it stands to reason that you're going to be hard-put to cast a show entirely of fresh faced young fellows who can sing, AND dance, AND act, all the while dressed in a variety of gooey gowns.

But she's done it. Kimberley bloody Shaw has done it. So for those of us out there who've been calling in favours just to get someone with a Y Chromosome to show up for auditions, she's been monopolising a goodly amount of our stock. I'm trying awfully hard not to rant on and on about how good individual pieces were, so as not to ruin it for those who haven't seen the show, so I'll just say this: If you get the chance, see this show. I had the (mis?) fortune of being selected as a judge on the night I attended and I found it VERY hard to pick which of these "lovely young ladies" had "that something extra" that is expected of Miss Glamouresse. I had a visitor over from Melbourne who went back to see the show again on Wednesday, and I myself am trying to gather a posse to sally forth later on in the week. If
I can get tickets that is.

Well done to all involved, I really did enjoy myself.

Troy Hall