image description — Michael Wartella and Kyle Taylor Parker in 'The Legend of Georgia McBride' playing this week at the Colonial Theatre.

'Legend of Georgia McBride': Lots of Sass, Sequins and Hardly a Drag

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
02:30PM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026Print Story | Email Story

This high-energy production has plenty of 'sass and sequins.'

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Elvis has left the building. Permanently.

He actually left Cleo's, a small dive bar/club in the homophobic Panhandle town of Panama City Beach, Fla., where he was being impersonated by a young man named Casey. The problem? No one was paying to see the show. And so Casey is fired by club owner Eddie. Rent is due. Eviction is being threatened. His wife Jo is pregnant. Life is a drag.

Literally.

Enter Eddie's cousin, a lip-syncing drag queen who is billed as Miss Tracy Mills. Accompanying her is a second drag queen, Rexy, who preferred being known as Miss Anorexia Nervosa ("It's Italian," she says.) Rexy gets drunk, and faster than Edith Piaf can sing "Padam Padam," Miss Tracy Mills has convinced Casey to join her on stage ... in drag. Padding, pantyhose, bodice with breasts, a dress, lipstick and wig and pow!

"Every man has some femininity, you just need to know," Miss Tracy Mills tells Casey, who becomes the first Piaf impersonator in a long, long time. His initial take of the French chanteuse's 1951 hit "Padam Padam" is scary, but after a few tries, c'est magnifique. Money is pouring in, the rent is paid, the baby will have a good life. Life is looking even more divine than Harris Glenn Milstead. (For inquiring minds, Google him.)

Welcome to the gender-bending "Legend of Georgia McBride" (Casey's drag name is taken from the state in which his mother was born and the last name of the first girl he kissed.)

This jukebox musical, now playing at the Colonial Theatre through Aug. 16, is more than a drag show. Mathew Lopez's script explores self-acceptance, reinvention, identity and true love ... and finding yourself in the most unexpected ways.

"Georgia McBride" doesn't have the compassion and originality of the landmark musical "La Cage aux Folles" — the script is predictable and as light as a false eyelash — but it is awfully funny and entertaining.

One of the funniest lines (and it has nothing to do with drag): "We are going to be the best parents since Joseph and Mary," Casey says.

"Yeah, but then their kid died," Jo snaps back.

There are sass and sequins, poignant moments and topical humor and a sentimentality that can't be dismissed. The cast is high-energy redefined. Kyle Taylor Parker illuminates the stage as Miss Tracy Mills, and he delivers the one-liners with perfection. As Casey/Georgia, Michael Wartella (almost) steals the show. He develops from twangy Elvis to drag queen extraordinaire with a few strokes of make-up and magic.

Isadora Wolfe's snappy direction and choreography keeps the camp and comedy coming at a fast (but not furious) pace. Amy Avila's costumes will make the fussiest drag queen swoon and croon. Just divine! The show's soundtrack features all the gay icons: Garland, Minnelli, Midler, Parton. And the lip-syncing? Good enough that perhaps RuPaul's girls need some lessons?

"The Legend of Georgia McBride" runs through Aug. 16. For tickets or more information, call 413-997-4444 or visit BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

Spotlight on Michael Wartella:

When we interviewed Michael Wartella the other day, we were actually speaking with three people: the actor, Casey/Georgia McBride (the characters he plays) and Freddie Couture. Freddie who?

Wartella loves admitting he's being doing drag for years — Couture is the drag name he invented back in New York City while appearing in the Broadway show "Wicked."

"I love doing drag," said the 40-year-old, who lives in Lenox with his longtime partner Natalie Gallo. "There's something fun about putting on a dress and makeup and a wig and shoes. Being a drag queen is no different than any other character an actor plays."

Here, Wartella, who is also a teaching artist for the Berkshire Theatre Group, chats about how his life is anything but a drag.

How did you get the role of Georgia McBride?

I am very lucky. I've been connected with the Berkshire Theatre Group for a couple years. [Artistic Director/CEO] Kate Maguire and I are very close and she really believes in my talent and artistry. And for that I am incredibly grateful. Kate called me and offered me the role. I was honored because she thought it was perfect for me to dive into. What's funny is that she has no idea about Freddie and my drag past. I had a lot of experience in drag before "Georgia McBride" — I had created Freddie 10 years ago in when I was working in New York. Freddie has been influenced by Hedwig, Eddie Izzard, David Bowie and especially Tim Curry from "Rocky Horror Picture Show."

How did Freddie come to life?

When I was in "Wicked" on Broadway, I love goofing off and dressing in drag backstage, before and in-between the show. My company manger entered me in "Broadway's Best of Drag," a drag competition, without me knowing it. He loved the idea that I was a straight man who loved doing drag, and I love getting pushed out of my comfort zone. I am always pushing myself to do the next thing. Drag is fun. If I look into a mirror, I see all sides of the coin, a striped down self, a soul, a boy, a girl, masculine, feminine.

Did you win the competition?

I came in second place.

What size shoe do you wear?

In men's I wear an 8, 8 1/2. In women's, I wear a 10.

How does your partner Natalie take this side of you?

We have known each other so many years and she is fine with drag. To use her words, she thinks Freddie is "fabulous." Dressing in drag is not her thing but she's OK that it's mine.

Your son Hunter turns 18 in October. His thoughts?

He loved it. He thinks it's one of the best shows Berkshire Theatre Group has done. I asked him there was a problem with me in drag and he said, "No." He had a bigger problem with me kissing another girl. He loves stepmother Natalie so much, it upset him!

Tags: Colonial Theatre, musical performance,

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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
11:44AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border. Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A.

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said.

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon."

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology.

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said.

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