Chad Jones, theaterdogs.com

Unlikely Friendship Blossoms in The Legend of Georgia McBride

Amid the glamour and show stopping montages of dynamic drag queens shimmering with personality is the story of a young man floundering to discover himself and finding an understanding mentor in the least likely place imaginable. What begins as Miss Tracy Mills feeling pity for the washed out Elvis impersonator she is replacing becomes a strong friendship that is a joy to watch unfold. The Legend of Georgia McBride is filled with compassion and hope that with the support of a community, dreams can come true and life will turn itself around to be something worth fighting for.

Casey (Adam Magill) accidentally finds himself onstage as a queen in a “show must go on” situation, with a gloriously awkward first attempt, tottering in high heels and barely managing to lip sync. His affection for the persona of Georgia McBride fights with his identity as a straight soon to be father, causing havoc in his relationship with Jo (Tatiana Wechler), his wife. Wechler portrays a no-nonsense, practical woman deeply in love with her husband, and the two of them have heartwarming scenes together, particularly in the final act.

Kraig Swartz as mature drag queen Miss Tracy Mills is a natural—perfectly comfortable in heels, wigs and skirts. It takes hours before each performance for the transformation, and it is worth it; from the moment Miss Tracy Mills appears, in an elegant gown with vintage bob of a hairpiece and kind, warm demeanor, she is sensational. Diva in every sense of the word, Rexy (Jason Kapoor) is the over-the-top sort of queen, relishing her “shades” and obnoxiously arrogant, until a lapse into vulnerability reveals complexity beneath the hard exterior.

While Casey’s gradual transformation through practice and talent is an ongoing theme, the club owner Eddie (John R. Lewis) is perhaps the most dramatic shift in character. Suspicious of drag queen culture, he is not interested in participating, until he observes the positive impact it is having on his business. By the end of the play, he is donning flashing light-up glasses and twirling his way into the spotlight, excited to be part of the team.

Lighting designer Kurt Landisman had way too much fun with this production—from starry night fields surrounding a glittering disco ball to pulsing colors bouncing off the silver waterfall backdrop, he unleashes a party atmosphere that is infectious. The audience is encouraged to interact during the drag performances—go ahead and shout, applaud, and react as if it is an actual club, rather than a theater. The script has leeway for a remarkable amount of creative freedom, and the team at Marin Theatre Company went all out with music and lightning fast costume changes thanks to designer Kara Harmon. Standouts were “I Will Survive” and “Born This Way” in runway style.

The Legend of Georgia McBride is a tinsel draped coming of age spectacular that celebrates acceptance and being true to yourself, even if it is not the person you wanted to be. The cast is genuinely enjoying the show, creating a confident, positive atmosphere. For a transfusion of creative enthusiasm, drive to Mill Valley for this one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.

The Legend of Georgia McBride a solid hit at Marin Theatre Company.

When Marin Theatre Company (MTC) Artistic Director booked The Legend of Georgie McBride for its San Francisco premiere he did not intentionally schedule the opening during Pride Week. But it is Pride Week and Georgia McBride could not be a better suited to celebrate the week. The five member cast playing six roles had the audience clapping and at the curtain call giving a standing ovation as the final drag number blasted across the footlights.  It is a should/must see production.

The adage of when life gives you lemons do not complain make lemonade. That is what Casey (Adam Magill) an unsuccessful Elvis Presley impersonator does after being cut from the show in a second-rate bar in the Florida Panhandle run by Eddie (John R. Lewis) who is bringing in a drag show in an attempt to make a buck or two.  The two drag queens he has imported to replace our erstwhile Elvis are Miss Tracy (Kraig Swartz) and Rexy short for Anorexia nervosa (Jason Kapoor).
When alcoholic Rexy passes out the show must go on and the recently fired but still available Casey reluctantly wins the brass ring choosing the name Georgia McBride who is destined to become a legend. Even though author Matthew Lopez has slipped in some very cogent dialog about Rexy’s tough life as a teenager brought up gay in Houston the play is a satirical comedy written for laughs and entertainment.

To create a plausible reason for Casey to perform in drag Lopez has created a pot boiler twist with wife Jo (Tatiana Weschler) being pregnant and money is needed to prevent being evicted by the mean landlady wife of friendly Jason (Kapour again). Inexplicably he does not tell Jo about his new gig/personae and you know that will add a bit of drama before the evening ends.

The transformation of Casey into drag with the donning of each costume piece ending with a wig and makeup is a kick and a holler. Tall handsome Magill’s body/fat ratio must be near zero and thus perfect for drag even though his size 13 feet may cause a problem. Tracy, the ultimate professional, is a great teacher. Casey’s terrible first performance as Edith Piaf with lip-synching of the lyrics nonexistent is the start of the Legend.

Tracy/Kraig  rarely gets out of drag and you might question whether he/she is a woman. Lopez does not rely on the usual wig removal by drag queens at the end of their performances allowing the audience to give an appreciative gasp. He sets up a single scene with Tracy out of costume and Kraig playing it straight.
The fun of the show relies on the actors playing drag must take their role changes seriously and ham it up just enough to elicit appreciative laughs. Magill, Swartz and Kapoor make their internal/external switches from male to female personalities fun to watch and appreciate.

The role of Eddie the bar owner is necessary for plot construction and John R. Lewis milks the role to the limit or is it a directorial conceit? Experienced director Kent Gash who helmed MTC’s famed productions of Choir Boy (2015) and August Wilson’s Seven Guitars (2011) allows structured mayhem but always in control.  Tatiana Wechsler makes the most of the underwritten role of wife Jo and her reconciliation kisses with Casey/Georgia are touching.  

The acting and directing must share accolades with the multiple costumes fashioned by Kara Harmon. In each scene she brings out startling/garish color with hysterical touches each trying to outmatch the previous one. Jason Sherwood’s multi-area appropriately seedy set is perfect for the show and is enhanced by lights (Kurt Landisman) and sound (Chris Houston).  Last but not least Dell Howlett’s choreography (including the roller skating) is the icing on the cake. Running time 115 minutes without an intermission.

Lip synch or swim! Drag fun in Marin’s Georgia

When you’re already an Elvis impersonator, could drag really be that far behind? Not according to the glittery, big-hearted drag comedy The Legend of Georgia McBride now closing the 50th anniversary season at Marin Theatre Company. Playwright Matthew Lopez dips into territory previously covered by The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, Kinky Boots,  Tootsie, Sordid Lives and Some Like It Hot, and while there are certain formulaic aspects of the story of a straight man embracing his inner drag diva, it’s all done with such sincerity and good humor it’s impossible to resist.

One question Lopez doesn’t really answer in his script is why Casey (Adam Magill) is so invested in being an Elvis impersonator at a rundown club in Panama City, Fla. He had done some musicals in high school, but now that he’s a married adult, his choice of profession is swiveling his hips and lip-synching to Elvis songs for about seven indifferent people in the audience. His wife, Jo (Tatiana Wechsler) is living the cranky life as a waitress and serves as the family’s bread winner. During a fight involving a bounced rent check, the loss of the Elvis gig and impending eviction, Jo announces she’s pregnant.

Even though he can’t don his rhinestone jumpsuit (complete with cape!), Casey returns to the bar to serve as bartender, but wouldn’t you just know? The drag duo the bar’s owner, Eddie (John R. Lewis), hired to drum up some audience interest has hit a snag: one of the performers, Miss Rexy (Jason Kapoor) has passed out cold. So in true show-biz fashion, the older, wiser drag queen, Miss Tracy Mills (Kraig Swartz) whips Casey into a wig, a dress, heels and makeup and forces him onto the stage. Somehow, the number works in spite of Casey’s awkwardness and the fact that the Piaf song he was saddled with was in French (just mouth the words “watermelon motherfucker” is the advice he’s given, and it sort of works). A drag star is born.

Casey doesn’t exactly tell Jo why they can suddenly pay the rent, so of course that will catch up with him. But apart from the requisite drama, the fun in director Kent Gash’s production comes from some delightful drag performances featuring a parade of beguiling outfits designed by Kate Harmon. Swartz has real panache – his Garland and Streisand bits are priceless – and the ever-appealing Magill oozes sincerity and sensitivity and makes his drag persona, Georgia McBride, really shine when his performances are more organic and less choreographed. Kapoor, who does double duty as Casey’s friend/landlord, also has an impressive Lady Gaga moment of his own. I’m not sure we needed another drag performance of the Weather Girls’ “It’s Raining Men,” but the choreography by Dell Howlett is awfully fun.

As you might expect from such a likable play, this is an extremely likable cast, and it’s especially nice to feel such warmth between Casey and the women in his life: his wife, to whom he gives foot rubs and his eternal devotion, and Miss Tracy, the mentor who will actually make him a better man (i.e. an adult who can see more clearly who he is and what he wants). As Miss Tracy puts it, Casey is a straight man in drag and she’s a drag queen in hell. Lopez gets off some nice zingers, and there’s a sustained sense of laughter and good cheer through much of the show’s intermissionless 115 minutes. We get an unnecessary lecture about what drag really means, and the play doesn’t know quite how (or when) to end, but as long as Swartz’s in-charge Miss Tracy is actually in charge, it’s all good.

Drag is complicated, especially in terms of its relationship to gender, sexuality and good old-fashioned camp. Georgia McBride isn’t the play that’s going to delve into and unpack or illuminate all of that. But it is a rousing good time with a zippy soundtrack, Florida panhandle glitz and endearing, open-hearted characters.

★★★★ “Charming … wry … endearing … clever … over the top … infectious … an absolute delight”

“This one’s a lot of fun.”

Life’s a charming drag in Marin Theatre Company’s ‘Georgia McBride’

A struggling Elvis impersonator finds unexpected success as a drag queen. That’s “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” the comedy that closes out Marin Theatre Company’s 50th season. Written by Matthew Lopez, whose thorny Civil War slave drama “The Whipping Man” MTC produced in 2013, “Georgia McBride” premiered in Denver two years ago and has played several other theaters across the country before coming to Marin for its Bay Area premiere.

Maybe Casey is a decent Elvis impersonator and maybe he isn’t. The tiny snippet of his act that we see isn’t enough to form much of an impression, although it does tell us that he’s the kind who lip-synchs along to Elvis recordings instead of singing. What we do know is that he’s dedicated. Performing in a Florida dive bar is his passion and the closest thing he has to a job. But nobody even comes to see his act, and he’s being replaced by the owner’s cousin’s drag show — right after he finds out that his wife’s pregnant and they’re on the verge of being kicked out of their home for bounced rent checks. 

Played with endearing awkwardness by Adam Magill (who was in MTC’s recent productions of “Native Son” and “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley”), Casey is sort of aimless and irresponsible, not really thinking things through. But he and his wife, Jo (sympathetically aggravated Tatiana Wechsler), clearly adore each other, even though she’s frustrated by having to be the responsible bad cop all the time. 
Casey falls into drag performance suddenly and involuntarily when he’s drafted into filling in for an incapacitated drag queen. Watching his drag persona develop from deer-in-headlights panic to playful, charismatic self-assurance is a long process, but it’s also the great joy of the show. As terribly awkward as they start out, the drag numbers eventually become an absolute delight in this lively production by director Kent Gash (who also helmed MTC’s productions of “Choir Boy” and “Seven Guitars”), with charmingly comical choreography by Dell Howlett. 

It’s similarly enjoyable to watch the gradual blossoming of bar owner Eddie as an emcee from painful clumsiness to basking in the limelight, portrayed with cheerful venality by John R. Lewis (Sancho Panza in Marin Shakespeare Company’s 2015 “Don Quixote”).
Kraig Swartz is marvelously wry as Casey’s drag mentor and performing partner Miss Tracy Mills, a middle-aged drag queen who’s come down in the world and clings to this gig as her last chance. Jason Kapoor (who was in MTC’s last show, “Guards at the Taj,” as well as last year’s “The Invisible Hand”) is hilariously sharp-tongued and prickly as younger full-time drag diva Rexy, in some entertainingly ludicrous costumes by Kara Harmon. Kapoor also plays as Jo and Casey’s amusingly laid-back buddy-turned-landlord. 

There are certain things that generally happen in this kind of story, so much of the plot of the play is pretty predictable. For one thing, the eventual consequences of Casey not telling his wife about his new job are obvious not just to any observer but to the characters as well. The callbacks to Casey’s previous Elvis obsession feel a little halfhearted and obligatory, but they don’t detract from anything.
It’s the cleverness of Lopez’s dialogue and the sheer over-the-topness of the lip-synch numbers (from Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton to the Weather Girls and Lady Gaga) that really sell the otherwise fairly standard-issue finding-yourself narrative, and make the show’s two hours without intermission not feel at all overlong. It’s hard not to get swept up in the infectious energy of the musical numbers, and I don’t know why you’d even want to resist.

“Full of sass and good spirits”