House Divas

Selena joins Cher, Marilyn as impersonators' favorites

By Ellen Bernstein
Caller-Times

Gary Payne/Caller-Times

Mike Garza, whose stage name is Malissa Mychaels, will join a national show of lip-synching divas at Harbor Playhouse Saturday. Mychaels will be performing as Selena.

   Thousands of Selena fans want to emulate the late Tejano Queen in fashion and performance. But how many of them are men in padded spandex pants and sequined bustiers?
   You'd be surprised. Since her death in 1995, the Queen of Tejano has crossed over to Queen of Camp - a sign of her universal appeal as pop diva.
   On drag show stages from L.A. to Miami, Selena is in the spotlight with oft-mimed superstars Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, Cher, Diana Ross and Bette Midler.
   On Saturday a Selena impersonator from Corpus Christi takes center stage at Harbor Playhouse for "Divas in the House." The revue brings a host of big-name female imposters to town, among them Melissa Crawford, Whitney Paige, Shauna Roberts and Lauren Taylor.
   Mike Garza, whose stage name is Malissa Mychaels, has garnered national notoriety for his Selena impersonation. He was recently included in a PBS documentary on Selena called "Corpus - A Home Movie for Selena."
   Director Lourdes Portillo filmed the Corpus Christi drag queen padding his derriere with five layers of panty hose and applying thick make-up for a show. His theatrical transformation and a snippet of his lip-synching performance were included in the documentary, which was broadcast nationally on PBS.
   Garza said he couldn't be happier with his film debut.
   "I was so excited," said Garza, a bartender at Club Diva in Corpus Christi, "the way they filmed all of me, from boy to Selena character."
   Selena's family objected to the film for several reasons, including the portrayal of Selena in drag, said their attorney Darrell Barger.
   Nancy Ford, a lesbian comic and editor of a statewide gay advocacy publication, said such impersonations are intended as the highest form of flattery for a star.
   Ford, of Houston, has seen Selena impersonators only in the past few years.
   "Immediately after her death it was too much of a shock, it was just too painful. But she has great music, and the music lives on through drag."
   Jeff Martinez of Club Diva, said impersonators closer to Selena's hometown didn't wait that long after she died.
   "They didn't wait, and they did it as a tribute, more out of respect."
   Garza, known as the best local Selena impersonator, will join out-of-town performers for a 60-minute show on the playhouse main stage.
   This is the second drag show to be staged at the playhouse by an outside production company, said executive director Ross Wilmeth. Drag shows have gone mainstream, he said, and the last playhouse revue attracted a mixed audience.
   The lip-synching divas will have other Latina superstars in their repertoire. Gloria Estefan, Shakira, and a send-up of Charro are on the bill along with Selena, Diana Ross and Bette Midler.
   Garza, 36, was impersonating Selena long before she was killed. He found work in Corpus Christi and in the Valley, where her music was always popular. Garza's living room is papered in Selena posters; a shrine to his idol, he said.
   "She was a great person. I liked her personality and her music," said Garza, who performs at Club Diva. He listens to her music every day. "She's the first thing I put on in the morning, especially after everything that's happened to her."