Aside from being famous, what do Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Adele, Michael Bublé, and Taylor Swift have in common?
For one night only, they were portrayed on stage at the Eau Claire Distillery by the cast of Legends Live and Jane Hustle on October 4 in Prince George, British Columbia.
Legends Live is a tribute show by Kat Fullerton, an award-winning Marilyn Monroe impersonator, where all the tribute performers sing live – no lip-syncing allowed.
Video: Calgary Journal reporter Amy Jaquish takes us to the tribute show
But for the first time, Fullerton has brought the show outside British Columbia for a combined Legends Live and Jane Hustle performance in Diamond Valley, Alta.
This performance, titled “Legends Live, featuring Jane Hustle”, was co-produced by drag performer Jane Hustle, who, unlike her castmates, lip-syncs during her Taylor Swift performances.
Performance shines light on impersonators
She started Legends Live two years ago with the idea of shining a light on impersonators and giving her friends a stage to perform on.
“The art of celebrity impersonating, I feel, is very underrated. And when it’s done right, it’s incredible. It’s a unique, thrilling art form that not a lot of people appreciate,” said Fullerton in an interview with the Calary Journal. “And I, again, I’m so lucky to have so many talented friends, and I could see this spark in them that I knew if I could, like, have them join my little, my weird little community, how good they would be in it.”
The performer behind the legends
But who exactly is the woman who put together the team that is Legends Live?
Fullerton has been a Marilyn Monroe impersonator for 10 years and has won awards for her performance, including the Reel Awards Classic Crooner award in 2020.
Before Mairlyn, Fullerton graduated from Mount Royal University with a degree in theatre arts performance and has a degree in television production from SAIT.
Fullerton had long had an affection for Marilyn, and the more research she did, the more she came to love her. Equipped with her unique ability to mimic the singer, she found her calling.
“I wanted to do this almost right out of theatre school, and I had started leaning into becoming a Marilyn impersonator, doing my research, getting some costumes together, and then life got in the way. And then that dream was completely sidetracked. And about 10 years ago, I sort of started getting back into it, and I was like, it’s now or never, as Elvis would say, it’s now or never,” said Fullerton.
Thanks to Legends Live, Fullerton gets to live her dreams and bring her friends’ dreams to life as well.
Elvis and Buble impersonators
Lily McMillan, who plays Adele, and Mark Kazakov, who plays Michael Bublé and Elvis, are two of the Legends Live cast members who joined Fullerton on stage, as well as the co-producer Jane Hustle, who performed as Taylor Swift.
Each performer brought their own uniqueness to the show, singing popular songs from Adele, Elvis,Taylor Swift and Marilyn Monroe, as well as mashups.
The night brought many surprises as Hustle came out dressed as all three of the Legends Live celebrities, donning Elvis’ white suit and Marilyn’s pink dress, acting confused when she twined with her castmates.
While the show was one-night-only, so was their rehearsal time, with Fullerton flying in from B.C.. They had one day to rehearse, which McMillan noted worked well because of the cast’s friendship.
“We don’t often have a very long rehearsal process because we know each other, we know the work, we know the show. So we have a one-day intensive rehearsal and then we jump in on Saturday. And I’m just really excited to get the team back together every time we have a show,” said McMillan.
But what’s next for Legends Live? Now that they’ve done a show in Alberta, Fullerton has plans to go even further.
“My biggest goal with this show. Personally, is just to start expanding legends beyond my hometown and bringing it to different cities and different stages and showing off my incredibly talented friends,” she added.