After a sold-out success its first year at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the Miss’d America Pageant will move to the venue’s larger performance space later this month.
The parody of the traditional pageant returns Sept 24 to Borgata, where drag performers from around the country will compete for the coveted crown and to raise money for LGBT and HIV/AIDS agencies. This year’s show will take place at the resort’s Event Center, after its Borgata debut last year at the Music Box.
“Last year was an incredible, incredible event,” said Rich Helfant, president of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance. “It was sold out and we had to walk people, which is a good problem to have. So we sat down with Borgata shortly after last year’s event and they said, ‘Let’s move it to the bigger room to accommodate more people.’”
The Event Center will be divided in half and will be able to seat 1,500 people. The area will also offer larger dressing rooms and more fly space in the ceiling to accommodate props moving in and out, Helfant noted.
“This is a bigger, better venue and now Miss’d America will be sharing the same stage as Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga and other superstars,” Helfant said.
The other half of the venue will be used for the post-pageant party.
Also new this year, organizers are upping the number of back-up dancers from four to six. The accompaniment started last year as a way to enhance the performances, and Helfant said the dancers were a hit.
“The dancers were such a great feature, they added sex appeal and fun and flavor to the show so we decided to increase the number,” he said.
Carson Kressley will return to host.
Helfant said that, while the host and performers always put on a hilarious show, Miss’d America has a deeper mission than entertainment.
“It’s so much fun but the underlying message here is equality and diversity, this year maybe even more so than in past years,” he said. “The girls will parade on stage in glitz, glamour and pageantry, but underlying all that is the message that the fight for total equality is not over. We can all recall what happened in Orlando in June, and the people putting on this pageant will remember that. We want to let the world know diversity and equality are alive and healthy in Atlantic City.”
For more information or tickets to Miss’d America, visit www.missdamerica.org.