In About Something by Jet Mykles, Shawn and the rest of the theatrical group at his university are preparing to stage Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. When the director, Roscoe, insists that Shawn play the part of the female lead in the play, Shawn is upset and nonplussed. He soon begins to realize, however, that he enjoys the challenge of playing a female. He also realizes that his feelings for the director are less than innocent. When Shawn first begins to wear skirts to class, he does it to tease Roscoe rather than to get into the role, and his ploy works. Shawn is a student, though, and Roscoe is a professor. Any relationship between them would be strictly forbidden by the college, no matter how the two men might feel about each other.

J. P. Bowie’s Sometimes Life’s a Drag takes us to the theatres of London, where a famous drag star – Kenny LaFontaine – is putting together a new show in his club. Patrick Farland and his friends are thrilled to have landed parts in the show, no matter how unpleasant Kenny and his choreographer may be. When someone tries to blackmail Kenny, the police are called in, and Patrick gets involved with the handsome detective Ian Bannister. When the blackmailer is murdered, the investigation turns serious, and all the evidence leads right back to Kenny LaFontaine. It will take clever police work on Ian’s part and just a little inside help from Patrick to blow this case open and expose a killer.

In Woman’s Weeds by Kimberly Gardner, David teaches college theater studies during the day and directs a community theater group at night. Out shopping for a last-minute birthday present for his sister, David meets the most beautiful man he has ever seen at the Macy’s fragrance counter. When that man, Kieran, shows up for auditions for their play the next day, David is thrilled. Kieran is a very talented actor, but the role he is pursuing is that of the female lead in the play. This could pose a problem, since the daughter of the theater group’s main financial backer wants that role as well. Given how attracted David is to Kieran, David is in something of a moral dilemma. And to make matters even more complicated, Kieran has a secret that will definitely surprise David and may chase him away as well.

Bravo! Brava! takes a look at men in drag in show business. These three stories are completely different from each other, and in each one, the character who dresses in drag does it for a different reason. Shawn in About Something dresses in women’s clothes out of rebellion. He wants to shock his fellow students and get a reaction out of his director. Kenny LaFontaine in Sometimes Life’s a Drag dresses in drag because that is his business. Big wigs, high heels, and designer gowns have made him the prima donna he is today, and he finds that if he tries to ditch the dresses and act like a man, his audience is not interested. For Women’s Weeds’ Kieran, dressing is women’s clothes is a compulsion for him. He knows that if he wants someone in his life, that someone will have to accept him the way he is, because he cannot change.

These three stories make for a pleasant read. They are quite entertaining if not terribly deep, and I enjoyed the slightly nontraditional peeks at the entertainment industry that they offered.


Reviewed by: Whitney