Review: Leola's LADY LAND is OPEN 4 BIZNESS at The Green Room 42

Heigh-Ho My Lovely Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in CABARET to bring you all the T.

Well, she's back my dear ones! Leola has landed her Ladyland back on the stage of the Green Room 42 (GR42) to pick up where she left off in her 2020 residency with, LADY LAND: OPEN 4 BIZNESS! And as she was saying before she was so PANDEMICALLY interrupted, "I'm a LESBIAN and a BROADWAY WORLD Award winner, so you should listen." We couldn't agree more. Now, all my regular readers out there know how Bobby feels about this Rainbow-clad senior citizen lesbian from the great state of Georgia since we gave her a rave in our previous review of LEOLA: HOORAY FOR LADY LAND! (Gay History for Straight People!) but we all feel the reset button has been pushed and we are starting over, don't we? That is where our Leola and her Ladyland picks up with her hilarious year (and a half) in review, hitting all the highlights of Penny Pandemic's act that just refused to leave the stage.

A new year, a new act and an old partnership with GR42 give Leola and Broadwayworld a new starting point for the months ahead, so new words must be written, and the word is hilarious. Leola Ladyland is the creation of writer, actor, comic Will Nolan late of ... someplace in New Jersey where he lives with his handsome husband and rapidly sprouting and, most likely, teenage angst-ridden son. Through the years Nolan has written, produced, and directed multiple evenings of comedy one nights that one might more aptly call comic theatre, and about a decade ago this gender-bending persona came forth from his pen and he/she/they were, as we say, off to the races. Leola has taken her creator on a ride that has necessitated the building of a dot com all her own (leolasladyland.com) as well as dates up and down the eastern seaboard playing fringe festivals, regional theaters, and the occasional birthday party. In 2018 the then recently launched GR42 wisely tapped our lady of Waycross to sit down in their space and provide monthly SHERMON's (show+sermon) to their patrons; a residency that continued into 2019 and on into 202... Oh well, we all know what happened. Fast forward to last night and GR42, which actually got up the cajones to include food service with a show for the first time since the last time, and the celebrations both gay and culinary signal our spiritual and carnal re-awakenings.

With her emotional admonition that those of us in the space were survivors of everything from a killer virus to a certain dangerous political climate; from an (allegedly) handsy governor to Tiger King, Leola launched into talking about our past year and her worldview as filtered through the jaundiced lenses of a late-blooming lesbian's cat-eye glasses seeing everything from behind the deli counter at the Waycross Piggly Wiggly. Speaking of going from one thing to another, Leola's passionate presentation moves with clunky, platform shoe brilliance from cornpone-laced stories of life with her ex-husband, best friend Gus in their double-wide mobile home to improv funny business with the audience that includes games and prizes. With a deft comedic hand, each Monthly review topic lands solid laughs from the small, socially distanced crowd and the show overall is as wonderfully enjoyable as Leola's other offerings if a bit long. That, my dearlings is where Bobby must bring a little rain with his rainbows. The hour and twenty-five-minute show started to feel a bit too long at an hour fifteen and we are certain that La Dame-O-Ladyland will tighten up her transitions and move things along a bit faster in coming performances. But what the heck, this was her first show back in forever and we feel sure there will be tinkering, so this is not a DING, but a quiet hint. Afterall, LADY LAND: OPEN 4 BIZNESS is a new show and combines elements from the tried and true material of her other works: Lady Land! An Origin Story, The Gospel According to Kelly Clarkson, Grab Me by the Lady Land! (Putting the Me in Me Too!), Make Lady Land Great Again! (A Town Hall Spectacular! ), and the obligatory Christmas in Lady Land! So, the practiced skill of this writer-performer will add the polish this brand new show needs with each performance for a new and appreciative audience and in so saying...

Bobby Gives LADY LAND: OPEN 4 BIZNESS a solid 4 out of 5 Rainbows - CHECK IT OUT.

Leola returns to GR42 next month, JUST IN TIME FOR PRIDE on June 24th at 7PM and you can get tickets while they last: HERE

See GR42's full Calander: HERE

Leola Hangs Her Sun Hat: HERE

Grab Leola By The Twitters: HERE

Check Out Her Insta: HERE

Look Up Her YouTubes: HERE

And Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

Read My Lovely Boss, Stephen Mosher's Recent Piece On Leola: HERE

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick

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