Smile
by Howard Ashman, Marvin Hamlisch

Antelope Valley. Dark, sensitive and smart. Robin is attractive without trying to be – honest, down-to-earth and questioning by nature. She senses that she doesn’t quite belong here and, over the course of the evening, she comes to understand why. She’ll leave having made some important choices about the kind of woman she wants to become.

Yuba City. Blonde, Southern and obsessed. She needs badly to win something… anything. Perhaps to make up for the things that are missing in her real life: friends, self-respect, family. To win a pageant has become her dream, her fantasy, her Disneyland.

Bakersfield. A redhead. Pretty but not too pretty. Smart but not too smart. Talented but not too talented. In short, the type that usually wins.

Salinas. Mexican-American. She tries harder. She has to.

La Jolla. A bit of a Valley Girl. Spoiled, gorgeous, competitive and prejudiced.

Sacramento. Shawn’s confidant.

Fresno. Doubles in Act II as Joanne Marshall, last year’s winner.

All shapes, sizes and levels of competence. The Young American Miss Pageant is, after all, for teenagers, not showgirls.

Anaheim

Carson

Visalia

Sausalit

San Luis Obispo

El Centro

Palo Alto

Modesto

Eureka

A third runner-up in the nationals, eighteen years ago, now she runs her local pageant. A study in surface perfection and just-below-the-surface neurosis, Brenda is an ex-prom queen who lost a contest once and will never stop trying to make up for it. Never a hair out of place. Never a public loss of poise. She aspires to the flawless, immaculate looks and demeanor of Madison Avenue mannequins and certain television newswomen. And although she can’t quite do it yet, she’ll get it right if it kills her. Under all that smiling fluff, Brenda DiCarlo Freelander is made of steel.

Her husband and head judge of the pageant. The town’s favorite son, he owns a local R.V. dealership, and his every free moment is devoted to some form of community service. He’s the Henry Fonda type: brave, clean, reverent, and he means it. A sincere and unashamed flag-waver whose flag is this pageant. He’s never been one to ask questions. Not out loud, anyway. By the time this week is over, he’ll have to.

National Chairman of the Young American Miss Foundation. A large, impressive, self-satisfied corporate leader with the suspicious charm of a television evangelist. He’s in the charity business. But he’s in business, make no mistake.

The pageant emcee. A professional. A big old silly. His hair is too dark for his age. Is it dyed? His cheeks are too rosy. Are they rouged? Hard to tell. He ought to do game shows. Or run for president.

The pageant choreographer, flown in to stage the pageant. He’s a professional too. But a completely different kind. He’s cynical, tough-minded and practical. His chain smoking, tough-guy stance and terminal five o’clock shadow make him comically out-of-place in this apple-pie atmosphere. Why then do we get the feeling he’s the only adult around here we can trust?

Brenda’s assistant. Doubles as Mother in Prologue.