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GREENSBORO — July is a good time for wannabe princesses in the Triad, no matter what their age or, indeed, gender. In one corner of Greensboro stand Princess Winifred and her crew in the Livestock Players's comic musical "Once Upon a Mattress." And in another, there are the outrageous cross-dressing beauty princesses in the Community Theatre of Greensboro's "Pageant."

"It's a new challenge for me," says Stephen D. Hyers, managing director of City Arts Drama, who's directing "Once Upon A Mattress." "I've never worked with a cast this large on a musical this big."

Hyers, who usually directs shows in the small Greensboro Cultural Center studio theater, knew he needed a bigger venue for "Once Upon A Mattress" for the simple reason that this musical version of "The Princess and the Pea" needed a climactic mattress-topped bed that was a lot taller than the studio theater could allow.

"You can't get away with eight mattresses when you need 20," he says.

The cast draws not only from the Livestock teen actors, but also from the adults in the 3rd Stage and the younger actors from the Greensboro Children's Theatre.

"Part of the fun of the summer show is to see teenagers and young actors working alongside their parents," Hyers says. "We have a couple of father-son combinations, and Sextimus's (a character in the show) daughter is also in the cast. It's a family occasion for the folks on stage as well as in the audience."

Nonetheless, the scope of Hyers' first large musical had him nervous going into rehearsals.

"I've been complaining that we haven't done any big dance shows, and part of that was because we didn't know if we had the dancers," he says. "But the cast has really stepped up on this one and encourages me that we can plan a heavier dance show."The story, written by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller and Marshall Barer, with music and lyrics by Mary Rodgers and Barer, respectively, has Queen Aggravaine ruling her kingdom with an iron fist alongside the cowed and cursed King Sextimus the Silent.

She has ruled that no one in the kingdom can marry before her son, Prince Dauntless the Drab. Unfortunately, she finds something wrong with every princess who's a candidate. But she has yet to face lucky Princess No. 13, Winifred, who sets the kingdom on its ear and wins the heart of the prince with her unroyal behavior.

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Dancing is something Rodney Luck knows well. He has directed and/or choreographed many of the Triad's biggest and best musicals of the past few years. He has to reign in the scope of dancing in "Pageant," but that's certainly the only aspect of the show that's constrained.

Luck, who directed CTG's 2002 production of the show as well, considers it "a breath of fresh air" to direct six actors instead of 40.

"That's one reason I even said I would do it again," he says. "We have a wider space this time, but it's still not a big show. I have to keep the dance numbers tight."

"Pageant," with book and lyrics by Bill Russell and Frank Kelly and music by Albert Evans, is a parody of low-profile beauty contests.

At each performance, judges chosen from the audience pick the winner. The catch, of course, is that all the women vying for the rhinestone tiara are played by men. There's Miss Industrial Northeast, a flamboyant Latina; Miss Bible Belt, who hopes to serve the Lord through telemarketing; Miss West Coast, a flaky surfer girl; Miss Great Plains, a big-boned farm-bred girl; Miss Deep South, who double-majored in home economics and cancer research; and Miss Texas, who has already amassed a number of crowns as she climbs the pageant ladder.

Adding to the fun is that the potential princesses must also shill for the pageant sponsor, cosmetics firm Miss Glamour-esse. So when they're not modeling evening wear or performing their talents, they're demonstrating their spiel for products such as Smooth-As-Marble Facial Spackle.

"I've told the guys that, yes, we're doing a parody and, yes, they're supposed to go for laughs," Luck says. "But it's also a real competition, and they should want their girl to win."

"Pageant" also answers the question: Which comes first, the dance steps or the high heels?

"We're still working in tennis shoes," Luck says. "They need to be very familiar with the dance steps before they have to concentrate on staying upright in heels. We have a couple of guys who have done professional drag, so I don't worry about them."

Leslie Mizell is a freelance contributor. Contact her at LAMizell@aol.com.