Theatre Nova's presentation of The Legend of Georgia McBride is powerful and poignant.

Presented by Theatre NOVA and The Ringwald Theatre, The Legend of Georgia McBride opened Friday evening, June 9, at Theatre NOVA in Ann Arbor, and not a soul left the theatre unmoved by the performance.

Written by Mattew Lopez and directed by Joe Plambeck, the play is about a young married couple living in small town America struggling to make ends meet and about to have a baby. The young man is Casey and he is bent on making a living by performing at a local bar as an Elvis impersonator. Life becomes more difficult when he is fired from his beloved job impersonating Elvis. The young couples lives turn upside down when the bar owner decides, as a family favor, to hire non other than a drag queen show team. Will Casey learn how to strut his stuff for a living? Well, you will just have to see.

The acting was phenomenal. Nick Yocum performed the roles of Casey / Georgia in excellent fashion...  emphasis on fashion. Vince Kelley's performance of Miss Tracey wells was truly transfixing and completely engaging. Richard Payton's performance as Rexy was as strong and brassy as the character. Meredith Deighton played an equally strong and endearing wife as portrayed by her character, Jo.

As far as themes, there are plenty. How about unconditional love, self awareness, self identity, and sexual identity. Yes, these are heavy issues but they are real and have been with us since the beginning of time, I'd imagine. Therefore, this play is extremely relevant and important, particularly in times like these as our political landscape is wrought with bias, bigotry and polarization. One of the great things about the play is that these heavy themes are handled and addressed with a healthy dose of humor, which makes everyone instantly at ease and comfortable with the important and necessary subject matter.

Provocative, powerful and poignant are the best words to describe this wonderfully chaotic and deeply endearing play. Check it out. You won't regret it.

The Theatre NOVA presentation of The Legend of Georgia McBride will run June 9 through July 2 at Theatre NOVA located in downtown Ann Arbor. More information can be found here.

Jeff Brown
Editor & Publisher
Purple Walrus Press

Scenes from Theatre Nova's production of The Legend of Georgia McBride