Multiplatform talent
THIS CONTEST is a beauty.
The first official Miss Subways pageant since the 1970s will roll out Thursday at the City Reliquary Museum in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where straphangers will show off their skills and laud their favorite lines in hopes of claiming the crowning glory of a transit tiara.
Four judges — including comedians Janeane Garofalo and Baratunde Thurston — will check out 13 acts, including drag divas, singers and comics. The pageant is a fund-raiser for the museum and the Riders Alliance transit group.
The pageant that began in 1941 is now open to all genders, identities and sizes.
L train denizen CarrieAnne Murphy, as Sundae Fantastique, will perform an original song that “reflects the sound of the subway at 2 in the morning when there’s no train for 28 minutes.”
Ilise Carter, aka The Lady Aye, will swallow a sword. She says the contest’s whimsy drew her in. “The MTA is giving people such a hard time right now,” she said. “They should have a sense of humor about it.”