THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST Comes to Laurel Little Theatre Next Year
Performances run February 24-25, March 3-4 at 730pm, and March 5 at 2pm.
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 18, 2022
THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST comes to Laurel Little Theatre next year. Performances run February 24-25, March 3-4 at 730pm, and March 5 at 2pm.
Happy Fourth of July! The burgers are prepped, the brownies are out of the oven, and the Miss Firecracker Contest is about to begin!
Mississippi author Beth Henley won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Crimes of the Heart and then followed that up with this explosively funny comedy set in 1984 in our neighboring small town of Brookhaven.
24 year old local resident Carnelle Scott is rehearsing furiously for the contest, the town's annual Fourth of July beauty pageant. She's hoping that a victory will salvage her "checkered past" reputation and prove to everyone that she's a valuable and beautiful young woman and that she really is "someone" in the little town.
Carnelle has a lofty family goal to achieve - her cousin, Elain, had already won the contest herself a few years back.
So Carnelle has a big talent number planned. She taps and turns somersaults to "The Star-Spangled Banner" while clenching a sparkler in her teeth. And Popeye, her near-sighted friend in Coke-bottle glasses, is sewing up a storm on a sequiny costume for her. True talent indeed - her act is so bad that it's actually great!
The play had a long Off-Broadway success and is full of the author's unique gift for finding lots of Southern humor and simple wisdom in all the zany activities leading up to the annual contest. Throw in some charming, but very colorful locals and you have a recipe for lots of belly-laughs in this explosion of red, glitter and blue and homegrown Southern values! A true casserole of sympathy and snickers!
A 1980's film starring Holly Hunter was a big hit and the show has been revived in NYC a few times. Offbeat, funny and moving, it'll play to a chorus of oohs and aaahs!
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