In addition to Wahl’s quirky yet thoroughly convincing performance as Mills, Clay Cartland excels as Casey/Georgia. The topic of transformation is reinforced through the numerous costumes Tillman has designed, as well as Lyle Baskin’s wide, versatile set, which easily changes from the nightclub to Casey and Jo’s apartment to dressing rooms. A particularly poignant passage toward the end of the play illustrates how acting can not only offer an escape, but perhaps improve the actor as a person as well. The Legend of Georgia McBride celebrates the power and satisfaction of transformation and performing. For Casey, it took portraying a woman for him to become more of a man. There’s also a tinge of irony in Georgia McBride. There’s plenty of irony in that taut, engrossing drama. The Legend of Georgia McBride is largely a light-hearted, escapist play – not nearly as meaty, serious or original as the talented Lopez’ celebrated, widely-produced, award-winning “The Whipping Man,” about a wounded Confederate Jewish soldier being tended to by his former slaves and old wounds (emotional and physical) coming to the surface. Still, the play has things to say about perseverance, trusting your gut instincts, forgiveness, finding the essence of who you are and the importance of reaching outside your comfort zone. She’s the only character playwright Lopez reveals any background information about. We learn about Rexy’s indomitability through a past incident she relates. And the only things holding us back are the limits of our imagination.” The only place for us to go from here is up. Yet here we both are: a straight man in drag and a drag queen in hell. “Well baby, this is not exactly the town I thought I’d ever end up playing. “Look, I know this is the last thing you thought you’d ever end up doing,” Tracy tells Casey after he’s taken over for the drunk and injured Rexy. In Lopez’s play, Casey and drag queen Tracy Mills (an elegant, encouraging and spirited Tom Wahl) find such a similarity. The act of bonding and finding commonalities with people we consider different seems especially important in these divisive times. Drag is a raised first inside a sequined glove.”Īs is true in Kinky Boots, two characters who never thought they’d meet in life find they have more in common than they originally thought. “Drag is a lot of things, baby, but drag is not for sissies,” explains drag queen Rexy (a narcissistic, arrogant Sean Patrick Doyle who, along with wearing one of Ellis Tillman’s glittering, inventive and character-defining costumes, puts on superior airs). There’s an air of toughness and defiance in this play. The Legend of Georgia McBride is, at times, unapologetically risqué, with highly suggestive language. If that means becoming a woman, so be it. But a man’s got to do what a man’s go to do to feed the family and keep a head over their roof. ![]() The last thing Casey wants to do is fill in for, much less become, a drag queen. Then one of them injures him/herself while in a drunken stupor – and Casey’s life is changed forever.īut this is hardly 42 nd Street, in which the leading lady gets injured and the green, but ever enthusiastic new girl on the block jumps for joy at the chance to shine in the spotlight. ![]() Drag queens are faring better and the club’s moody manager/MC, Eddie (an at-times flustered, at-times exuberant Dave Corey) has taken notice. Casey’s not exactly selling out the house with his Elvis act, regardless of his talent. He’s nearly penniless and faces eviction from his rented apartment, along with his wife, Jo. The latter is receiving its Southeastern premiere in a vivacious laughfest of a production put on by GableStage at the Biltmore in the suburban Miami city of Coral Gables.Īs is true in Kinky Boots, we meet a central character who never in his wildest dreams thought a drag queen would vastly improve his financial situation.Ĭasey is an Elvis impersonator in a dilapidated night club bar in the Florida Panhandle. We’ve seen that in the 2013 Tony-Award-winning Broadway musical Kinky Boots (which is based on a true story) and now we witness it in Matthew Lopez’s empowering, lighthearted comic treat The Legend of Georgia McBride. The bottom line is that at least twice now in the make-believe world of theater, drag queens have proven to be career savers as they’ve come to the rescue of characters in dire need. ![]() ![]() Call them weirdos, freaks or any other name to express your disapproval at their lifestyle or your inherent dislike of them, for whatever reason. Go ahead, poke fun at drag queens all you want.
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