Diva does diva

>>Drag queen Mado Lamotte plays a fan obsessed with Quebec’s leading lady in Saving Céline

by AMY BARRATT

As Montreal’s reigning drag diva for going on two decades, Mado Lamotte has never pulled punches when it comes to Quebec’s chief international export, Céline Dion. Basically, Mado objects to the haunch-slapping, chest-pounding power-balladeuse for being kétaine (tacky) and—this is the unforgivable part—not knowing it.

So how delicious is it that in Saving Céline, opening next week at the MainLine Theatre, Mado plays a drag queen who worships the chanteuse from Charlemagne?

The original play is a multi-media comedy-thriller by a Vancouver-born writer-producer who, while Mado has been building her empire in Quebec, has been working on some of the biggest commercial shows in London’s West End.

Saving Céline is Mark Watty’s first solo writing credit and, despite the modesty of this production compared to Beauty and the Beast or The King and I, he’s thrilled to be doing it his way. Watty stresses that his company, C’est Cheese Productions, isn’t using the Montreal run as a tryout for off-Broadway or anywhere else; this is a show that’s set here, with lots of references aimed directly at Montreal audiences. On the other hand, “if it’s successful [in English] we’d love to translate it into French.”

This is Mado’s second “legit” acting credit (following a role in Michel Tremblay’s Surprise Surprise last year), and her first role in English. Unlike the character in the play, Mado has never been the kind of performer who impersonates celebrities like Céline; with her trademark eyelashes and cotton candy wigs, Mado is a character in her own right. She’s the creation of Luc Provost, whose training as an actor is evident in the way he has invented a family and a whole history for her. “We’ve hired Mado, not Luc,” says Watty. Part of the rehearsal process under director David Pellegrini has been making sure that this is not just Mado’s club act moved into a theatre but a genuine characterization. Just as the trademark Mado look will show through beneath the Céline hair and makeup, so will Provost don two distinct layers of characterization. There are five other local actors in the cast, playing a total of about 25 characters.

Starting with the costumes designed by Mado’s personal couturier, Daniel Serrurier, Saving Céline ratches up the production values a notch or two for the MainLine. “We’re bringing in more lights, and a projector,” says Watty. “It’s a really technical show, with 90 sound cues in one hour and 20 minutes.”

Saving Céline, Watty says, is a comment on a society obsessed with celebrity. “Mado’s character thinks he knows Céline from reading about her in the tabloids.” It’s also a pastiche of pop culture references from Hitchcock films to ’80s pop tunes.

Much like Mado herself, whose Mascara shows at Divers/Cité attract all ages and persuasions, Saving Céline should appeal to a broad audience, including young students who are into ’80s retro, as well as those of us who, like Watty, were there the first time around.

Saving Céline, Aug. 29–Sept. 15
at MainLine Theatre, tickets $20; $10
student discount on Wed. and Thurs.
For reservations, call the box office:
(514) 848-9696 or see www.cshow.ca
for more information