Production History
Playwright Matthew Lopez's works are "all about home, creating home and family — either blood family or manufactured family. 'Georgia McBride’ is about a group of people who don’t really fit in anywhere else. I call them my misfit toys, and they build a home together at the bar.”
Original Production(s)
The Legend of Georgia McBride was produced in Denver, New York, and Los Angeles with Lopez present, with all three productions directed by Mike Donohue, set designed by Donyale Werle, sound designed by Jill BC DuBoff, and featuring Matt McGrath as Tracy Mills. Paul McGill choreographed in both New York and Los Angeles.
2014: World Premiere at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts after the script was developed through the Colorado New
Play Summit. This early version apparently started a little slowly and was revised before subsequent productions.
2015: Off Broadway Performance! Critical reception was generally warm, though Alexis Soloski of The Guardian suggests that
"the play wimps out, leaving questions of gender and sexuality uncomplicated and unexplored."
2017: Los Angeles production! Again, reviews were generally positive, though Charles McNulty of the L.A. Times calls out the
plot for its predictability and occasional disbelievability.
Selected Subsequent Productions
Upcoming at the Marin Theatre Company, which has some interesting promotional material on its website.
2018: TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT. This performance transformed the theatre's full intimate space into a club and was,
according to the BWW review, "serviceable."
2017: Nortlight Theatre in Chicago. Reviews were lukewarm, generally painting the production as spectacular but low on intimate connection between characters.
2016: Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. Reviews varied from suggesting the show was (as per grand camp tradition) messy but fun to stale and one-note.
"In the work of great drag performers, there is nuance, sophistication, and sly humor. Also an underlying sense heartbreak (it’s not an accident that Judy Garland and Edith Piaf are so often the subjects of drag hommage). You won’t know it from watching this."
The takeaway is that The Legend of Georgia McBride is popular in intimate spaces and is often a vehicle for local drag talent. Reviews suggest that the show is generally a crowd-pleaser and that the comedy usually lands, but productions that aren't careful can made the drag feel unintentionally tacky or the moments of honest connection between Casey and the other drag queens - particularly around the personal significance of drag to some members of the queer community - feel unearned.
The Legend of Georgia McBride was produced in Denver, New York, and Los Angeles with Lopez present, with all three productions directed by Mike Donohue, set designed by Donyale Werle, sound designed by Jill BC DuBoff, and featuring Matt McGrath as Tracy Mills. Paul McGill choreographed in both New York and Los Angeles.
2014: World Premiere at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts after the script was developed through the Colorado New
Play Summit. This early version apparently started a little slowly and was revised before subsequent productions.
2015: Off Broadway Performance! Critical reception was generally warm, though Alexis Soloski of The Guardian suggests that
"the play wimps out, leaving questions of gender and sexuality uncomplicated and unexplored."
2017: Los Angeles production! Again, reviews were generally positive, though Charles McNulty of the L.A. Times calls out the
plot for its predictability and occasional disbelievability.
Selected Subsequent Productions
Upcoming at the Marin Theatre Company, which has some interesting promotional material on its website.
2018: TheaterWorks in Hartford, CT. This performance transformed the theatre's full intimate space into a club and was,
according to the BWW review, "serviceable."
2017: Nortlight Theatre in Chicago. Reviews were lukewarm, generally painting the production as spectacular but low on intimate connection between characters.
2016: Arden Theatre in Philadelphia. Reviews varied from suggesting the show was (as per grand camp tradition) messy but fun to stale and one-note.
"In the work of great drag performers, there is nuance, sophistication, and sly humor. Also an underlying sense heartbreak (it’s not an accident that Judy Garland and Edith Piaf are so often the subjects of drag hommage). You won’t know it from watching this."
The takeaway is that The Legend of Georgia McBride is popular in intimate spaces and is often a vehicle for local drag talent. Reviews suggest that the show is generally a crowd-pleaser and that the comedy usually lands, but productions that aren't careful can made the drag feel unintentionally tacky or the moments of honest connection between Casey and the other drag queens - particularly around the personal significance of drag to some members of the queer community - feel unearned.