Review: THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE at Burbage Theater Co

Can pretending you’re someone else help you become the person you wish you could be?

For an answer, check out THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE — Tony winner Matthew Lopez’s big-hearted comedy about finding yourself through love, drag, and love of drag —  at Burbage Theatre Co through June 8.

The play finds us in a small town on the Florida panhandle, where a sweet, hapless young man named Casey is trying and failing to help support his growing family with the scant cash he’s making as an Elvis impersonator at Cleo’s, the local dive. When the bar manager replaces him with a dazzling drag queen duo, he’s relegated to bartending — until, that is, a last-minute emergency forces Casey to fill in for one of the drag performers. What’s meant to be a one-time fix becomes a runaway hit, turning Casey’s titular drag persona into a local celebrity — and forcing Casey to reckon with his shortcomings, recognize his dreams, and transform his relationship to his wife and himself in the process.

It’s a feel-good story set to a soundtrack of drag show staples and newer LGBTQIA+ anthems — think Dolly Parton, Chappel Roan, and everyone in between — that the cast delivers with charm, spirit, and wit. Under Gia Yarn’s direction, the play moves easily between traditionally-staged scenes between actors and drag performances delivered directly to the Burbage audience, which is invited (but not forced) to interact with the performers as they work the crowd during their numbers. During these performances, Burbage’s blackbox space transforms into Cleo’s bar, collapsing the space between the actors and the drag artists they portrayed — a pointed nod to the play’s theme about finding yourself through performance, and also a recipe for a lot of fun. 

The production also boasts a committed cast that brings spirit and humor to their roles. As Casey, Michael Yussef Greene captures the character’s charming guilelessness and vulnerability; even when he’s making mistakes (and he sure does make some) Greene’s Casey is endearingly sincere. Anthony DeRose — known locally for his performances as Jacqueline DiMera — brings brassy wit and hard-earned wisdom to drag star Miss Tracy Mills, and Omar Laguerre-Lewis is a scene-stealer as Mills’s temperamental performance partner, Rexy. Sabrina Youn imbues Casey’s understanding-but-exasperated wife, Jo, with a gentle groundedness that anchors their relationship, and Brien Lang brings wit and warmth to Cleo’s owner Eddie, whose bottom-line mentality melts into genuine appreciation for his unconventional stars. 

As fun as the whole affair is, THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE is also a timely statement about the power of drag to create community for our most vulnerable friends and neighbors, expand our definitions of family, and transform our fixed notions of who we are and what we can become. As Rexy reminds us, “Drag is a raised fist inside a sequined glove” — a radical self-embrace that refuses shame. This is the real reason drag performance is under attack in our country, and it’s the reason to keep defending its right to dazzle us with truth, wit, and bright, burning joy.