Liza, a teenage schizophrenic who has escaped from a Toronto mental hospital, and hairdresser Robin Turner, an aspiring female impersonator who adamantly eschews being called a drag queen, become devoted friends after circumstances throw them together as roommates. The result is an occasionally raunchy, sometimes funny tale which, onstage, has become disjointed in its telling, unsure of its focus. Robin's success is stymied when he discovers he must harness his emotions towards Phil, a bisexual hustler who makes himself Robin's manager and convenient lover while secretly stoking his sexual appetite with Chick, lesbian lover of Jimi, a butch dyke, who manages a popular gay Greenwich Village bar. Robin must also confront the deteriorating condition of the lonely and fragile Liza back in Toronto. This character in the real life scenario is Margaret Gibson, author of the biography upon which the movie was and this musical is based. She wrestles with the haunting voices in her head and in her dreams and battles a caring mother and social worker who want her to give up her hazardous lifestyle and regain the "benefits" of professional, and loveless, hospital care.
The movie of "Outrageous" made a demi-star of Craig Russell, the legendary Toronto female impersonator of the l960s. His short-lived career took him to the top cabarets of Canada, New York City, and even Europe. The story onstage evolves as a drama despite some campy gay sequences. Thom Allison, who has been part of the show's workshop process, was catapulted into this challenging role after demonstrating his uncanny ability to impersonate in looks and voice Mae West, Judy Garland, Karen Black, Billie Holliday, Tallullah, Bette Davis etc.
While the supporting cast members deliver strong performances, it is Tim Howar as Martin, a suicidal psycho befriended by Liza, who becomes a tragic denizen of the city's streets. Howar provides some of the show's most compelling dramatic moments. (He has played Marius in the North American touring company of Les Miserables (starring Colm Wilkinson) and played the challenging title role in the Canadian national company of Tommy.) Loretta Bailey's sensitive Liza is genuinely frightful in her over-the-top performance. She succeeds in balancing the melodramatic aspects of her role with a sweet singing voice and a natural vulnerability. However, our patience with Liza , as written, wears thin as the action jumps jarringly from drama to musical comedy and back again.
Although Joey Miller's melodic songs are well integrated into the libretto, the sung dialogue leading into them feels pretentious, out of whack with the show's overall style. The budget-conscious looking set is a bizarre and sterile concoction of long steel rods rising many feet at acute angles. Cast members turn into assistant stage managers, pushing mobiles to suggest the locales: a psychiatric hospital ward, a Greenwich Village gay club and Robin's rented rooms. The playbill's omission of such information further frustrates this theater-going experience. However, there is no mistaking the where and what of the one lusty, completely nude sex scene between Phil and Robin. The roles in this exhibition make for an insightful message to hetero audiences about gay male sexual behavior. An advertising disclaimer warns: "Some language and/or graphic staging may offend or excite."
Underlying themes of social oppression and homosexual repression are familiar territory for Brad Fraser. He is known for his presentations of lost souls in his internationly acclaimed dramas, Unidentified Human Remains... and Poor Superman. Fraser saw "Outrageous," the landmark Canadian-made movie, at age 18 in Edmonton, Alberta, his then-redneck hometown of Edmonton, Alberta, and became immediately obsessed on it being made into a musical. He has brought his dream to fruition. It's not a Broadway musical, as he needlessly insists in his program notes, but in the hands of two well intentioned, talented, gay Canadians lads, the effort has merit. It's also become a hot ticket, with 32 additional performances announced before opening night and, thus adequately fulfilling the audacious mandate for CanStage's non-mainstream audiences.
