The Winner: Little Miss Parliament House


From Futurama: 
Amy: "Aw, come on, Leela. Deep down all girls wanna be Miss Universe."
Leela: "Not me."
Amy: "Really? Maybe it's just cute girls."

Great satire doesn’t just make it’s target look horrifying or ridiculous - by the time something is being satirized it’s been seen that way already. Great satire makes you realize that the target is a dozen times worse than you’d ever imagined it was before you sat down. 
Before seeing “Little Miss Parliament House,” Orlando comedian Jeff Jones’ send-up of child beauty pageants ala “Toddlers and Tiaras,” we all knew child pagaents were disturbing. We all know that. But nothing could have underscored the weirdness of sticking little girl kids in Tammy Faye make-up and coaching them to move with all the child-like exhuberance of Abe Lincoln in the Hall of Presidents than having 40-50 something drag queens satirize them doing it. 
“Little Miss Parliament House,” will make your face ache from laughing, too. It’s a blend of theater, improv and mixed-media with pre-taped interviews of the contestants’ “mothers” and of Jones as the cloying, closeted pageant emcee with Janine Klein as his deliciously disenchanted wife. Doug White, as the pageant assistant, rounds out the stable cast, which  which brings us to another inspired aspect of the show - a rotating cast of contestants so the show is always different. Only the “talent” portion is pre-arranged, so the result is a hilarious free-for-allwith a quick-witted cast that does better on the fly than many do with a script. 
        The opening night cast included Addison Taylor and Carol Lee who play girls so marvelously tragic and familiar that you just want to adopt them or show them an “It gets better” video - something - and Ginger Minj and Chantal Reshae playing girls whoso disconcertingly adult that they make you feel like one of the first two. Future contestants will include Miss Sammy, Gidget Galore, Doug Ba’aser and April Fresh.
So go see “Little Miss Parliament House” - it’s not only hilarious and great satire, but it delivers something real raelity TV seldom does - entertainment, surprises and something to look forward to. It’s been awhile since I’ve been so happy to be totally horrified. 

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