Review Roundup: THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA McBRIDE at Geffen Playhouse

Geffen Playhouse opened the West Coast Premiere of THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE, now playing through May 14th.

After years of struggling at a small-time club in the Florida Panhandle, Casey realizes it's now or never for his career as an Elvis impersonator. Enter Miss Tracy Mills, a self-proclaimed grand dame of drag who guarantees Casey's life is about to get "all shook up."Matthew Lopez's hip-shakin', heartwarming tale explores what happens when one man trades in his blue suede shoes for platform pumps and discovers he ain't nothing but a drag queen.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Shari Barrett, BroadwayWorld: Matthew Lopez's hip-shakin', heartwarming tale explores what happens when one man trades in his blue suede shoes for platform pumps and discovers he ain't nothing but a drag queen. As the play opens, we meet tall, thin and shirtless Casey (Andrew Burnap in a tour-de-force performance), as he preps at his dressing table to take the stage. But after years of struggling at this small-time club in the Florida Panhandle, Casey realizes it's now or never for his career as an Elvis impersonator. But unfortunately, his boss Eddie (Nick Searcy) tells him changes are being made since patrons are no longer showing up for Casey's act and it's just not financially feasible to continue things as they are. So what is Casey to do since he just found out he and his lovely wife Jo (Nija Okoro, the ultimate supportive wife) are expecting a baby with no real means of economic support?

Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times: The drag performances are lively though not spectacular examples of the form. McGrath shines in a Broadway revue number, but Burnap fails to show why Georgia McBride catches fire the way she does. Perhaps no artistry could make the farfetched situation believable, but Casey's lip-syncing and sexpot dance moves cry out for more of Tracy's coaching. The blare of the music must substitute at times for the missing verve.

The extravagant costumes, designed with insouciant flair by E.B. Brooks, are jocular treats. And the ingenious set, constructed by Donyale Werle in a way that collapses home, dressing room and barroom into one another, makes efficiency seem like stage poetry.

Stage Scene LA: Two stars are born in the Geffen Playhouse West Coast Premiere of The Legend Of Georgia McBride. One is the Florida Panhandle drag queen whose reputation gives Matthew Lopez's crowd-pleasing comedy its name. The other is Andrew Burnap, whose revelatory performance as an Elvis impersonator who discovers a whole new love of performing portends huge things ahead for the 2016 Yale School Of Drama MFA grad.

Indulge Magazine: Casey (Burnap) is a struggling Elvis impersonator, soon-to-be father, and now, an accidental drag queen at dive bar, Cleo's where the proprietor (Nick Searcy) has just taken on two other, larger-than-life, veteran drag queens - the grand, nurturing Miss Tracy Mills (Matt McGrath, who steals the show) and sass and vodka-loaded, Miss Rexy (Larry Powell, equally good in and out of drag). Problem is, although they're starting to turn the almost bankrupt bar around and Casey is feeling more realized in his bra and stockings than the King's white pantsuit, it's all a big secret from his baby-mama, Jo (played tenderly by Nija Okoro). In other words, the falsies are feeling way too real and the truth has become hard to reveal. The parallels between this and the "gay-for-pay" arrangement are striking.

Bobby Hankinson, Tower Road: The show is bursting with laugh-out-loud moments and nods to queer touchstones like Edith Piaf, A Star Is Born and The Sound of Music, but it's Matt McGrath (The Broken Hearts Club, Boy's Don't Cry) that will keep you in stitches as Casey's drag mentor Miss Tracy Mills.

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