This weekend and next, Prince Edward Community Theatre is back at Mount Tabor with Matthew Lopez’s drag queen comedy The Legend of Georgia McBride.
Casey is a small town Elvis impersonator who loses his job at the local bar. He can draw no more than seven customers.
He is replaced by a rag-tag drag show, whose performers, Tracy and Rexy, need a little something extra.
Already comfortable wearing wigs and sequined jump-suits, Casey, much to his own surprise, transforms into the fantastic, lip-syncing drag queen Georgia McBride.
Burlesque shenanigans ensue.
Director Cheryl Singer notes the real, laughing comedy of the play sells itself. “Even the preparation of the costumes had its moments,” she noted. “We have a limited budget! Try finding fabulous costumes that will fit…large men — you know, a lovely woman’s evening gown. And shoes! A size 14 women’s high heeled shoe! Try finding that.
“Let’s put it this way. We all love a challenge, so it was fun to search, because when you did find them, it was, like, ‘oh yes!’
“The whole show is just pure joy. I just want people to sit there and just be entertained and feel the joy that comes out of this — the music, the costumes, the lighting, the characters, the friendships that have bonded.”
Each of the production’s contributors looks beyond the fun to the play’s themes, of identity and self-realization.
“We all want to be appreciated,” notes Ms. Singer, “no matter who we are, no matter what it is, whether we’re in drag or whether we are an Elvis impersonator, or whether we’re working at Tim Hortons in a uniform.”
Pat Larkin as Tracy Mills (Photo: Chris Fanning)
The theatre draws attention to the role-playing of life itself. “I’ll do my makeup and my hair, because that’s who I am when I go out into the world. This is what I like to present to the world.”
Ms. Singer quotes the greatest drag queen of them all, RuPaul: “drag does not disguise your personality; drag reveals your personality.” To be human is to play roles.
Pat Larkin, who plays Tracy Mills, notes, “it’s an inclusive thing, and in my conversations with drag queens, that’s one of the greatest lessons that come across. They say, drag is for everybody.”
The actors spoke to personal transformations as a result of their roles. Tomas Crossley, who plays Casey, said he faced his insecurities through the great variety of things his role requires him to do — play guitar, sing, dance, undress — wearing women’s clothing was the least of it.
“I’m a chef by trade, so cooking in front of people is putting on a performance. But this is a whole other thing! The process has been liberating.”
Acting is also ethically engaging. “I think one of the grand things that happens with acting is you hit the point of really beginning to have a lot of empathy for the human condition,” says Mr. Larkin.
“Because as you play each new character, if you’re really investing yourself in it, you’re really learning a new perspective.”
From the Picton Gazette
A stage-theatre favourite, Steel Magnolias was made into film with Dolly Parton, Julia Roberts, Sally Field and Shirley MacLean in 1989. It features the friendships of six “southern belles” — delicate on the outside, but strong enough on the inside to weather any challenge. Resilient women are steel magnolias. The play, which is funny and lively and a bit sad, foregrounds family relationships and the complexities of life.
The lives of six women in small-town Louisiana intertwine in a home beauty salon in Robert Harling’s 1987 play Steel Magnolias, which is being brought to life by Prince Edward Community Theatre at Mount Tabor Playhouse over the next two weekends, along with a performance next Wednesday. The play is based on Mr. Harling’s real life experience when his sister, Susan, dies from complications related to diabetes after the birth of her son. The play explores the deep bonds of friendship as each of the six women deal with events in their own lives while supporting one another through both happy and trying times. The implied heartbreak in the story is leavened by irrepressible humour, a celebration of love and an enduring resilience of spirit.