By night he’s the ultimate female illusionist, dressed to the nines, lip-sticked and lashed, spouting Bette Davis lines and exquisitely channeling Judy Garland’s vulnerable warbling.

By day, he’s in shorts and a t-shirt, bicycling around town, chowing down on crabcakes and enjoying his summer at the beach.

To say his personas were as different as day and night would be an understatement. But one thing the two Christopher Peterson’s have in common is their love of Rehoboth Beach.

Eyecon Christopher is finishing up his third season (and the end of his contract) at the Swan Ballroom at the Atlantic Sands Hotel. He first came to town with his show at the late lamented Renegade and has been packing them in at the Sands every Friday through Sunday these past three summer seasons.

Casual Christopher loves to bike the trail between Rehoboth and Lewes, eat and drink with friends, and volunteer for CAMP Rehoboth—as evidenced by his amazing turn as volunteer Emcee for the CAMP Rehoboth Follies just a few weeks back.

Eyecon Christopher has been refining his three different Sands shows for years now—adding a song here, an illusion there, a hilarious new story (have you heard the one about his performing at a nudist resort? It’s very funny and very true) and a new character from time to time.

Casual Christopher loves those Eyecons but is also yearning to exercise his acting chops and take on something a little different. In fact, when he heads back to Key West this coming winter, he may do just that.

"I have a friend, Darren Hagan, who wrote a play called Bitch Slap, about the feud Bette

David and Joan Crawford had during the making of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

It’s a cast of three—Bette, Joan, and Hedda Hopper as the referee. We’re going to try it out this winter in Key West. I’d love to see if we can do it here in Rehoboth sometime, too." Christopher tells me over lunch at the Seafood Shack.

"The characters are dressed as people know them, Bette with her All About Eve look and Joan with her hair in a snood with the Victory Roll on top."

I can picture Christopher doing the ultimate Bette Davis, but I’m sure he can conjure Joan Crawford just as easily— perhaps playing both at once. He laughs at that suggestion and we both speculate about the new multi-purpose room to be built as part of phase two at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center—it might just be a perfect venue for this kind of show.

In the meantime, if you’ve never taken the time to see Eyecons at the Atlantic Sands, you only have a short time left. Not only will you laugh until you hurt, as well as cheer and applaud, but I bet you’ll make reservations for two more performances at least. That’s because Christopher cannot possibly channel all his divas in one night and there are three different shows to choose from. And when you return, you will probably do what I did—bring a gang of visitors with you.

And for those of you who have enjoyed Eyecons over the years, it’s probably frightening to think of a Rehoboth summer without Christopher at the Atlantic Sands. Perhaps we should be calling the proprietors at the Sands and urging them to make sure Christopher is back on stage there and no where else next July 4th weekend! Actually, that’s a great plan—let’s do it!

For all of you Eyecon virgins (no jokes, please) here’s the scoop on Christopher: Born in New Brunswick, Canada, he discovered a love for the theatre early in life and began developing his female characters while he worked on his theatrical career. He performed in numerous Canadian television shows and beginning in 1993 he appeared at The Edmonton Fringe Festival in Guys in Disguise, played the female lead in Canadian Stage’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rough Crossing and was cast as Robin Turner in a musical adaptation of the hit movie Outrageous. He even won a Dora Award, the Canadian version of Broadway’s Tony for his stage work.

From Canada, Christopher headed to Los Angeles to appear in An Evening at La Cage. He also appeared in the award-winning documentary We’re Funny That Way, and gained a great deal of attention when he was featured as "a Lucille Ball" in the hilarious film Rat Race, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr.

In Eyecons, Christopher does all of his own singing, in an uncanny representation of over a dozen famous ladies. He dazzles the audience with his wit, quick changes and astonishing voice. Patsy Cline, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe (complete with a new song this summer) all come back to life. And you must see his Barbra Streisand (with a new number this year, too), Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Carol Channing, Lucille Ball, Liza Minnelli, and more.

Many of us have seen female impersonators before, but Christopher is the cream of the crop. While his ladies are dead ringers for the real icons, the amazing thing is that Christopher can sing as well—and often much better than most of them!

His turn at the CAMP Rehoboth Follies, singing "I’m Telling You I’m Not Going" from Dreamgirls brought 500 cheering people to their feet.

So don’t miss out on Eyecons—you only have until Labor Day. And after that, we can just hope we’ll be seeing Christopher here next summer. Maybe some of you will be calling the management there with your request.

In the meantime, make your reservations for Eyecons, before it’s too late and you miss Christopher’s dead on, "But ya are Blanche, but ya are…"

Christopher Peterson’s Eyecons runs Friday-Sunday through Labor Day at the Atlantic Sands Hotel, Baltimore Ave. and the Boardwalk. Call 302-227-2511 for tickets.

Photos (Top: Christopher Peterson as Marilyn Monroe; center: as Joan Rivers, and above at the CAMP Rehoboth Follies.