A straight Elvis impersonator gets in touch with his inner feminine side after his Elvis act is dumped at Cleo’s, a seedy bar in Panama City in the Florida panhandle. Once Casey (played with a great deal of charm by the talented Kevin Kantor) is told that his act is being replaced with a drag show by owner Eddie (a deft turn by veteran Rep actor James Pickering), he goes home to find that the bad news is about to get even worse: his wife Jo (an earthy Shavanna Calder) announces that she’s pregnant. Then his landlord (Armand Fields) appears, to let him know that he’s either got to come up with the rent or be evicted. That’s just the few opening scenes of this hilarious new comedy by Matthew Lopez, which opened at New York’s Lucille Lortel Theater in 2015. Lopez is also known for The Whipping Man, a serious Civil War drama which the Milwaukee Repertory Theater staged a few years ago, and Broadway’s current The Inheritance. The Rep is responsible for producing the Milwaukee premiere of The Legend of Georgia McBride.
Back to the story: Casey reluctantly takes a job bartending at Cleo’s until Rexy, one of the drag queens (also Armand Fields), gets too drunk to perform. Casey is pressured to don a dress, wig, and heels by Eddie and the show’s other drag queen, Miss Tracy Mills (Courter Simmons, a stand-out in every respect). The comedy’s director is Meredith McDonough, who does an excellent job of invoking the comic timing, as well as emphasizing the play’s more serious aspects.
The comedy goes into high gear when Casey gets through his first stage appearance as Edith Piaf (it’s awful). Casey soon learns that some of his Elvis moves, and his sequined costumes, are not so different from what the drag queens are doing. Furthermore, the large crowds they start attracting give Casey an entertainer’s high that he never inspired with his Elvis gig. He’s starting to like his new persona: Georgia McBride.
The scene in which Tracy Mills teaches Casey the ropes of being a drag queen is a high point in a show studded with almost non-stop humor. It all comes down to a matter of attitude, says Tracy. She proves her point by singing a medley of Judy Garland tunes that nearly brings down the house. Legend veers into serious territory a couple of times, such as when Tracy and Rexy reveal what it has been like to grow up gay. Rexy gives Casey a brief lesson on the harsh realities of the gay lifestyle, noting that drag is not for sissies. During the drag numbers, the performers flaunt the deliberately over-the-top costuming of Patrick Holt, who has done work on TV’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” among many other theatrical credits. These spot-on costumes would look appropriate in any drag revue. The performers are illuminated by lighting designer Paul Tobin. As the fortunes of Cleo’s start to rise, the proscenium edging of lights goes from partially burned out bulbs to a flashing cascade of illumination. Sound designer Lindsay Jones makes a big impression as well, as the performers lip-synch to music by a number of gay icons. It's impossible to witness The Legend of Georgia McBride without a smile on one’s face and at least a few hearty laughs. The playwright strikes a light-hearted look at tolerance, and it works, onstage and off.
