Lawrence.com

The dapper, tuxedo-clad emcee singles out the six beauties who stand behind him.

"You've got charm / You've got grace," he serenades the contestants as their eyelashes flutter and smiles beam at the audience.

"You've got that something extra."

In this case that "something extra" refers to a Y chromosome ... among other things.

Because the young ladies in the Kansas University Summer Theatre production of "Pageant" aren't ladies at all.

They're guys in wigs.

Talented, hilarious, and, yes, darn sexy guys in wigs.

"We're often asked, 'Why not cast women in these roles?,'" says "Pageant" playwright Bill Russell.

"My answer is that if you put a woman in a swimsuit and parade her down the runway, you're exploiting her in the same way you're making fun of. By having a man do that as a woman, it makes a comment about what women go through to maintain our culture's expectations of femininity and beauty."

Russell, a 1970s KU alumnus who lives in New York, returned in April to direct the play for the first time at his alma mater.

"It's fun to do this with age-appropriate guys," he says. "They are the age that most real contestants would be. Some of the professional cast I've worked with have been older. Though they may have more polished skills, they don't look quite as good, frankly."

"Pageant" centers on six contestants from different parts of the country vying for the prize of Miss Glamouresse.

Part of the show's appeal is that five judges are selected from theatergoers at the beginning of the show, and they actually vote in each category: swimsuit, talent competition, evening wear and spokesmodel.

"Potentially, it's a different winner every night," Russell says. "It's a very audience-interactive show."

This also keeps the performers on their toes at all times.

"The number of different improv scenarios, especially at the beginning and the end, is quite challenging," says Tosin Morohunfola, who plays pageant host Frankie Cavalier. "In between, I feed off what the audience does. Some of the stuff has been very goofy."

The 18-year-old Leawood sophomore originally tried out for one of the contestant roles ("I guess they weren't satisfied," he says), but eventually got cast as the velvet-voiced host. He says "Pageant" works so well because of the underlying truth that the actors reveal.

"It's the fact that they're not just making fun of being women but are actually trying to portray these honest but crazy women," Morohunfola says. "That's what makes it so funny."

Beneath the wigs

When Russell conceived "Pageant" with fellow KU grad Frank Kelly in the mid-1980s, he wanted to make sure the project didn't become a real drag.

"I thought, 'Hmmm, I'm not really into drag, so I'm not sure about this.' But I don't really consider this drag," Russell says.

Russell and Kelly (together with composer Albert Evans) poured through hours of old Miss America footage, looking for ideas to pilfer that would amp up the absurdity.

"I remember a Miss Michigan whose talent was karate. She chopped a cement block in two or something," he recalls.

The "Pageant" cast members are asked to perfect skills equally as loopy. These manifest themselves in bouts of ventriloquism, interpretive dancing, accordion playing, roller skating and speaking in tongues.

Russell says, "When I cast this I make it very clear that I'm not looking for drag performers. I'm not looking for camp. I'm looking for musical theater actors with strong skills who can rise to the challenge - one of the great acting challenges - which is convincingly portraying someone of the opposite sex. They have to sing, dance and play comedy like a standup comedian."

For actor Spencer Holdren, who plays Miss Great Plains, the most amusing moment came on the night of the first dress rehearsal when the cast finally got to see each other in costumes and wigs.

"It's been quite a transformation to see the whole 'woman' in all her glory," says Holdren, a 21-year-old senior from Topeka.

He says there is definite competition among the six actors portraying the contestants, as each plans to try their hardest to earn a first-place vote from the judges ... and to look the sexiest.

"I've been told by the costume ladies that I have the most gracious figure," he says.

Unique challenges

Since its debut in 1986, "Pageant" has been performed in London's West End and Australia. But surprisingly, the KU production denotes the first time the Tony Award-nominated Russell can remember it being staged in a collegiate environment.

As with any university production, this translates to plenty of time and budget restrictions. For costume designer Delores Ringer, there is one daunting challenge in particular.

"The hardest thing is finding the right shoes that fit," she says. "They have to have high heels, and the director kept wanting them higher. We needed a women's size 15. They don't exist around here."

Ringer says an ambition of her department is to give each of the contestants distinctive looks and not play up the same type of girlishness - some characters are a little glitzier, some frumpier, some more conservative.

"Our goal is also about finding the right balance so that you don't think that these are women; you always see them both as men and women," Ringer says. "And some of the guys look pretty good in their getups. Some have great legs."