Ben Wydeven
Sean Langenecker as Gloria and Bob Moore as Valentina.
In Casa Valentina, seven cross-dressing men dance daintily on the outskirts of convention in a Catskills bungalow. Harvey Fierstein’s 2014 Tony-nominated play is set in 1962, a pre-internet age when people living outside heterosexual norms sought refuge in underground communities.
StageQ’s Midwest premiere, which runs through August 6 at the Bartell Theater, comes to Madison on the heels of the hugely popular tour stop for Kinky Boots, another Fierstein creation, which celebrates drag performers.
Casa, directed by Michael Bruno, opens at a resort owned and operated by George, aka Valentina (Bob Moore, also the show’s technical director) and his supportive wife, Rita (Kathleen Tissot). The couple takes pride in their establishment and lifestyle. Modern audiences may be familiar with such a “camp” from an episode during Season 1 of Amazon Studios’ trailblazing series Transparent. Main character Maura, a trans woman, visits a cross-dressing retreat at “Camp Camellia” before her transition.
The evening, staged in the Bartell’s intimate Evjue Stage, begins as a mirthful dinner party celebration, with drinks and candlesticks and slumber party makeovers. That is until Charlotte (co-producer Donnovan Moen), a cosmopolitan publisher, flies in with a plan for creating a national advocacy group for cross-dressing men. The proposal and the possibility of being outed exposes rifts in their seemingly cozy cohort.
Throughout the play, the “femmepersonators,” as they call themselves, show how their forbidden activities are forms of self-love and self-acceptance. But away from their supportive community, they face the grinding daily incongruence of living secret lives.
The show features a number of standout performers. Bessie (Scott Albert Bennett) is the knowing jester, delivering campy, self-deprecating punchlines. She’s a good match for the play’s appropriately kitschy mountain lodge décor and ‘60s girl-group soundtrack. Sean Langenecker plays Gloria, a bouffant-crowned Southerner with as much conviction as grace. A poignant monologue from Eleanor (Simone LaPierre) exemplifies the challenges these individuals face in a disapproving society.
Being one’s own person is more acceptable these days, but only to a degree. Ask the transgender people facing similar issues outside bathrooms across the country. In Casa Valentina, the audience gains valuable insights into the meaning of acceptance while catching a glimpse of the glorious possibilities of living authentically.
