Pawtucket’s Burbage Theatre brings the Rhode Island premiere of Matthew Lopez’s “The Legend of Georgia McBride” to the stage in their campy version the prize-winning play, directed by Gia Yarn.

It is the tale of an Elvis impersonator who loses his job when the theatre owner switches the entertainment to a drag queen show.

Casey (Michael Yussef Greene) isn’t drawing the crowds to his show. The truth is, he is horrible. Lip syncing Elvis in his white jumpsuit is anything but entertainment, so the owner (Brien Lang) fires him and brings in Miss Tracy Mills (Anthony DeRose), a plus-size drag queen and his anorexic partner Rexy (Omar Laguerre-Lewis).

Rexy goes off on a bender and Miss Tracy convinces Casey to fill in for him/her.

Casey reluctantly goes on stage, giving a performance that’s worse than his Elvis impersonation.

Miss Tracy coaches him and he becomes a popular performer.

The problem is that Casey hasn’t told his wife (Sabrina Youn) who is pregnant.

That’s the first act, which is a bit campy, but saved more than once by DeRose’s ability to hold things together, ad lib and take charge when necessary.

The play takes off in the second act, when their act gets better and better, thanks mostly to the talents and comic timing of DeRose.

Credit goes to the talented Aaron Blanck for his outlandish costumes and choreography.

Underneath all the silliness are important messages about finding out who you really are, accepting it and moving on.

As one Miss Tracy puts it, “Drag is not for sissies.”

I must admit, it took me a while to get with it, but once I did, in the second act, I liked it.

The finale, with quick changes galore, is worth the price of admission.

“The Legend of Georgia McBride” plays through June 8 at Burbage Theatre.

Go online at burbagetheatre.org for tickets and more info.