Evita Loca Brings Broadway Magic to the Art House
by Steve Desroches
To keep from going loco, John Michael Dias went loca. The Broadway actor and singer, known in particular for his roles in Jersey Boys and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, was, like everyone else, stuck at home during the pandemic—an especially worrisome situation when you make your money by being a live performer, not to mention it’s also a passion. What to do? What to do? And that’s when a lavender lightbulb went off over his head. He was noticing friends of his who were drag performers doing online shows and getting quite a following. Dias had dabbled in drag before, usually on Halloween when he’d create characters for a night like Stella Stiletto or Marie Aquanet. And he’d performed in drag here and there, usually at parties or gay bars with castmates on national tours when they had a night off or were still buzzing with energy post-performance. So out came the wigs, the lashes, the sequins, and the lips, and shablam…Evita Loca was born.
“It’s an extension of me,” says Dias. “She’s a mix of a Broadway dame and The Nanny.”
As Evita Loca, he performed over 50 shows. And when the pandemic restrictions lifted, Dias continued his la vie en heels, taking his act to the stage now that theaters and cabarets were once again open. He admits that his success in drag happened rather quickly, certainly aided by his extensive resume on the stage. But he’s quick to acknowledge the immense amount of help he received from fellow more seasoned drag performers. Paige Turner and Cacophony Daniels, who themselves worked on stage out of drag, helped secure gigs and offered work to Loca. Miss Conception, a drag darling of Provincetown and Puerto Vallarta, reached out online, having never met Evita Loca in person, and encouraged her to come to Mexico as she felt she had the right stuff to succeed in the competitive drag scene in the Pacific resort town. And there she not only found an audience, but also met Sutton Lee Seymour, who along with Miss Conception recently took over the reins of the Art House, and made sure to save some dates for Miss Loca.
Dias shares the story out of gratitude, but also to counter the stereotype of drag culture being catty and bitchy. This a story of gay people helping gay people. But it’s not the only encouragement he’s received in his life. Born and raised in Tiverton, Rhode Island, Dias went to Catholic school in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts, where his grandparent lived. His parents were “very practical” people, his mother a nurse and his father a police officer, so a life in the theater, nevermind drag, never really occurred to them for their son. But his grandmother Francesca loved music and had dreamed of being a dancer, but as one of 12 children in a working-class family, that goal never materialized. However, she was active with the Little Theatre of Fall River, a community organization. As young as 8, Dias had help his grandmother with the costumes and backstage work. One day they were casting a production of The Music Man, and encountered a problem.
“They were short boys and my grandmother grabbed me and yelled out, ‘You need a boy? I’ve got a boy!’,” says Dias. “I never looked back.”
Indeed, that loving push from a grandmother got him all the way to Broadway. And it’s Broadway that he’s poking fun at with Broadway Becomes Her, in which Evita Loca explores the phenomenon of Broadway making musicals out of popular films. For every Death Becomes Her, Hairspray, and Mean Girls, there are an equal number of absolute turkeys. “Producers often aren’t very creative,” says Dias. “So they see a great movie and they write a show around it and slap in some music to it and then charge $300 a ticket.” But sometimes things are so bad, they’re good. With all-live vocals, Evita Loca handles the good, the bad, and the ugly, with glitter, glamour, and gusto. Having become a staple in the drag scene in Puerto Vallarta, Loca looks to do the same in Provincetown.
“I love doing these hour-long shows,” says Dias. “I mean, I love what Varla Jean Merman and Dina Martina do. That style of show is so much fun. And to be able to do them in this little gay village. It’s what we need now more than ever. Just to have queer joy. That’s what this show is. It’s so important to be super gay right now.”
Evita Loca presents Broadway Becomes Herat the Art House, 214 Commercial St., Saturday, August 22 at 5:30 p.m., Sunday, August 23 at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, August 25 at 5:30 p.m. Tickets ($35/$45) are available at the box office and online at thearthouseptown.com.
