Musical pays tribute to a plus-size beauty pageant.

Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard

A musical by a Eugene native now working in New York and an interactive whodunnit open on Eugene-Springfield stages this week.

Pretty Faces

Actors Cabaret of Eugene

Friday through Feb. 21

The Girl Next Door always gets the guy in Broadway musicals, but what about the Other Girl Next Door? Shouldn't she have her moment in the sun, too?

OPENING THIS WEEK

Playwright Robert Cabell believes she should, so he wrote a musical for her. ``Pretty Faces'' opens Friday at Actors Cabaret of Eugene. Cabell is a Eugene native who now lives in New York City.

"The intent of the show,'' he says, ``is to take a contemporary classic musical situation and infuse it with The Other Girl Next Door, which is size 16 and up. The role models were `Kiss Me Kate' and `A Chorus Line,' bringing the two together and taking the audience on a ride."

The main stop on the journey is a beauty pageant, where the contestants let their hair down before emerging on stage as dazzling visions of loveliness. Cabell says the characters are transformed by the experience.

"They come on in exercise clothing and they wind up with their hair done up, makeup and jewels, standing in a spotlight singing, `This Moment is Mine.' The words are: `I never thought there would be a beauty pageant made for me' and `It feels so strange, it feels so new, this time I'm the ingenue,' ' Cabell says.

"There are no fat jokes. They are lusty, funny, cuddly women."

They are also based on real people. Born and raised in Eugene, Cabell, 48, was inspired to write the musical by his long friendships with local performers Tyrita Tracey, Jane Russell Wojick, Marietta Ernandez and Penny Jo Attwood. He met them when they played comic roles as Indian maidens in a production of "Annie Get Your Gun."

"I just took this image with me of the big chief being surrounded by all these lusty women, and I decided what if, instead of putting them in floppy gowns and pigtails and blacking out their teeth, people dressed them up and made them look gorgeous. And that's how `Pretty Faces' was born," Cabell says.

Cabell, who wrote the book, music and lyrics, got positive reviews for songs such as "Too Plump for Prom Night," "I'm Twirlin' for Jesus," "Solo for the Telephone" and ``42-32-42.''

"Pretty Faces: The Large & Lovely Musical" opened to enough acclaim in a small New York theater in 1985 that Cabell's backers moved it to an Off-Broadway venue in 1990. It got strong reviews there, too, but closed suddenly, Cabell says, when the promoters failed to file the necessary legal papers. The show has sat on the shelf ever since.

The new production at Actors Cabaret will be slightly different from the New York productions. The Off-Broadway version had 10 actors; the Eugene show will have eight.

The cast includes Erica Jean Pierson (Monique), Amanda Fackrell (Bobby-Joy), Nikki Pagniano (Delores), Ruby Mitchell (Pleasure), Theresa Boudreau (Paulette), Laura Holden (Patricia), Tyler Holden (Carter) and Bruce McCarthy (Roger).

As the show's producer and director, Joe Zingo has changed portions of the script. He and Cabell have worked together on other projects, including the premiere of Cabell's ``Z: The Masked Musical'' here in 2000.

They get a kick out of jabbing each other.

"When we moved it from the small theater to Off-Broadway, I added a character based on Joe and named him Jimmy," Cabell says. "I took lines right out of rehearsals from Joe and wrote him directly into the character. He has little tantrums when the girls don't get it right in rehearsals. He's a task master."

But Cabell laughs when he notes that Zingo has changed the character somewhat.

"I think he is going to make Jimmy nicer," Cabell says. "He's thinking of combining the role of Carter the nice stage manger with Jimmy. He's so good at adjusting things, so I said go ahead. I trust him."

In effect, "Pretty Faces" is being given an out-of-town tryout in Eugene. If all goes well, Cabell intends to remount it in New York, nearly two decades after he wrote it.

"To be able to do it again - and be able to enjoy it - is quite wonderful," he says.

The show is at 8 p.m. this Friday and Saturday and Jan. 23-24 and 30-31 and Feb. 6-7, 13-14 and 20-21 at Actors Cabaret of Eugene, 996 Willamette St. Tickets are $10 and $15 ($29.95 for dinner and the play) through the theater box office (683-4368).

The Fatal Fifties Affair

Springfield Acting Ensemble

Friday and Saturday

A fan dies laughing in the Springfield Acting Ensemble's interactive dinner theater mystery "The Fatal Fifties Affair" at the Springfield High School auditorium on Jan. 16-17.

The question is: Who done it?

Perhaps the culprit is one of the cast members of the hit 1950s sitcom "Make Way for Winky," who are on a national tour to promote the program's remake.

All goes well until, during a talk show, an audience member is murdered. The cast and Barry, the loquacious local talk-show host turned detective, set about solving the crime before the murderer strikes again.

The suspects include old cast members who have gone on to new vocations: Daddy Beans has been elected to Congress; Mother is a celebrity psychologist; Sissy is a crusader against smut; and old Aunt Cora has joined the ``Grand Ol' Opry.''

The show is directed by Constance Locklear and Emily Hartung. In the cast are Russell Goswiller, Tyler Walls, Diana Sanchez, Krista McCray, Rachel Gard, Jackie Stollar and Kim Copeland.

To go along with the play's 1950s theme, the event will include a dinner of a "gourmet hamburger," fries, assorted traditional side orders and a root beer float. A vegetarian option is also available.

Audience members are encouraged to dress in 1950s outfits for a costume contest.

"The Fatal Fifties Affair" will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Springfield High School auditorium, 875 Seventh St., Springfield. Tickets for dinner and the show are $10 each and must be reserved at the school box office (517-9028) at least two days before the performance. Information: 744-4768.