‘HOCUS POCUS 2’

CONNECTICUT DRAG QUEEN SUMMER ORLANDO CALLS THE ROLE THE ‘DREAM OF A LIFETIME’

Ben Orlando, better known as Connecticut drag queen Summer Orlando, was tapped to be in “Hocus Pocus 2” by a Disney casting agent while he was in Florida.

“[The casting agent] knew all about me, which is amazing, I didn’t know I was on Disney’s radar,” Orlando said. “At first when you get a phone call like that you have to think about it, because what are the chances ‘the mouse’ is calling you on the other end? I thought I was being punked.”

The reason he was on Disney’s radar is because Orlando has been playing Winifred Sanderson in “Hocus Pocus Live!!!,” a tribute show based on the original “Hocus Pocus” movie that has been staged around Connecticut for about six years. He created “Hocus Pocus Live!!!” because he has loved the movie since he was a child, he said.

“When you get Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker together in a film, working as sisters, magic just happens. I really loved the costumes, I was really into magic as a kid, so I love the whole ‘Disney witch’ aspect to it, the storyline and comedy. I have watched it a million times and I could watch it a million more,” Orlando said.

The first performance of the show was a 30-minute version done in the LGBTQ+ bar Chez Est in Hartford. Before long it grew into an hour-long performance due to its popularity.

“I still run into people all the time that say, ‘Oh my gosh’ your show is so great and it really embodies the feeling of the original film, which was always my plan,” Orlando said.

Orlando said that the opportunity to be in the movie was “the dream of a lifetime,” and he flew back to Connecticut from Florida as quickly as possible to pick up his Winifred drag costume before heading to Newport, R. I. where the movie was being filmed.

During filming, Orlando got to work with the actresses who play the original Sanderson sisters, Bette Midler (Winifred Sanderson,) Kathy Najimy (Mary Sanderson) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah Sanderson.) Orlando also met drag queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on set including Ginger Minj, Kornbread and Kahmora Hall.

“It was an out-of-body experience. You haven’t lived a childhood dream until you’re standing there in Winifred drag and Bette Midler is standing there in full Winifred [costume] across from you. [Midler] walked past me and said, ‘You look just like me,’ and I could have just died on the floor,” Orlando said. “Kathy was just so sweet, her and I met two years ago at RuPaul’s DragCon when I was there as Winifred, and she told me, ‘Oh my god, [your drag] is so spot on, it takes me back to the set with Bette.’ ”

While Orlando said he could not reveal specific details about the scenes he is in before the movie is released, he said it was “one of the biggest scenes in the movie.” When filming a scene, Orlando said he was able to help Midler remember one of her lines.

“Right before they yelled ‘action,’ Bette Midler asked someone what her line was and I guess nobody heard her. This was about the 40th take and I have a pretty photographic memory once I hear something. No one was answering and I’m like, ‘Oh my god I need to do something,’ ” Orlando said. “I gave Bette Midler her line. And then she comes up to the edge of the stage and says, ‘What did you say?’ and I gave her the line again, and she goes ‘Oh thank you, my darling.’ ”

Orlando described the filming location as a “true Disney set” with iconic set pieces like the Sanderson sisters’ cottage

from the first movie, which had been rebuilt. Orlando said that he got to work on the film for more days than he was originally set for, and he did his own costume work including hair and makeup. Now that his costume is officially an “onscreen used Disney costume” Orlando hopes that when he no longer uses it that it will end up in a museum. Orlando can be seen briefly with the Sanderson sisters and other drag queens in the trailer for the movie.

The actor said being in the movie has opened “so many doors” to expand his tribute show and he even hopes to do a world tour sometime next year. In October, he will host an interactive experience titled “The Salem Express! Revenge of the Sanderson Sisters” on the Essex Steam Train, which he said will return next year “even bigger” due to high demand. He will also be doing a performance of “Hocus Pocus Live!!!” on Oct. 22 at Hop Culture Farms & Brew Co. in Colchester.

“The Sanderson sisters are taking over Connecticut this year, we have so many things coming up and happening,” Orlando said. “It got so crazy that I was like, ‘You know what, it is finally time I shaved off my eyebrows’ because Winifred doesn’t have any eyebrows. I am literally more in makeup as Winifred in October than I am out of drag.”