Kilroe presents one-woman, 12-character show

In a miracle of local entertainment bookings, Tina Turner will be playing two shows in St. Albert this weekend at the intimate setting of the Cornerstone Hall. It is even more miraculous that she will be joined by Bette Midler, Cher, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli and Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe? Yes, and Mae West too.

Of course these are all just characters played by the inimitable Bonnie Kilroe, the female equivalent of André Philippe Gagnon. The talented Vancouver-based performer and impersonator is coming back to town after performing her Patsy Cline show here to sold out and sardine-packed crowds just four months ago.

She said those shows were so well received that it made her want to come back and do more.

This time Kilroe is stocking up her steamer trunk full of costumes and wigs to create 14 celebrity entertainers for her bravura performances.

“Amazing! They were just incredibly appreciative,” she said about her audiences in March. “Everyone I spoke with told me, ‘You were so great.’ I’m like, ‘No, you’re great.’ They were just so warm and they just loved it. I thought I’d love to come back here and do my big show, which to me is way more entertaining and exciting and fun and challenging as well.”

Kilroe hopes that those challenges will only add to the amusement and not the other way around.

“This show is not as much about the music. It’s just the presentation, the entertainment, the singing, the fun, the comedy. My show can be on a large scale of production and I can play it in Legions, which is not easy. I need a place to set up all my costumes and wigs and props.

“I’m going to have a little bit of a challenge in the Cornerstone Hall because I don’t have my curtains and my room right there. I have to go down these stairs and then there’s a storage room … so that’s going to knock a few seconds off of me. Believe me, my costume changes are tight to the second! That could add for some more comedy.”

Whether or not she makes it back to her mark on time, the audiences will surely be in for a treat. It has elements of burlesque like when she starts off as Charlie Chaplin only to strip to reveal a different performer underneath. Regardless, she modestly describes it as a show that everybody can and will enjoy.

“I know that they’re impressed and that they’ve never seen something like that before. After I’ve done my show and people have said, ‘Who was the girl who played Tina Turner?’ ‘Well, that was me.’ ‘Oh, well, then who was the one who did …’ and I say, ‘No, they’re all me.’

“They just didn’t know it was one person.”

The only issue Kilroe has happens when a new character just hasn’t had the chance to reach out to all ages just yet.

“If I do [a show for] an older crowd when I come out as Lady Gaga I always know that half of them are thinking, ‘Who the hell is that?’ [Otherwise] this is the show that appeals to everyone. It’s really fun … a lot of audience participation.”

There is certain to be a lot of energy as well. For her, some of that is just nervous energy, hoping that it all goes well.

“I invented a monster,” she admitted. “It’s a love-hate relationship. It’s a lot of work … brushing out the wigs, straightening out the Barbra Streisand. Every tiny little thing has to be set and if one thing goes wrong it can completely screw me up.”