‘Always… Patsy Cline' at Theatre By The Sea entertains but never quite engages
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The play takes place on the night her idol came to sing at a local club; a night that launched a friendship that continued through letters until Cline's
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Cline's short career generated just two hours and 10 minutes of recorded music from just three studio albums, much of which makes its way into the two acts of 'Always… Patsy Cline.' While her life's story reads like the lyrics in the ballads and torch songs she sings throughout this jukebox musical — including 'Walking After Midnight,' 'Leavin' on Your Mind,' 'Your Cheatin' Heart,' and 'Crazy' — it's Louise's function to provide biographical facts through a lighthearted and often comedic running narrative. Patsy's job is to sing.
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It's the singing that differentiates professional theater productions like this one from many of the community theaters and cruise line stages that have long claimed this work as their own.
Here, Lewis-Michelson's singing is superb. While there is only one Patsy Cline, Lewis-Michelson also possesses a classical contralto singing voice, which produces the same warm, rich, and powerful sound. And she shares Cline's range and confident ability to downshift into more delicate and emotive expressions, often capturing Cline's unique vocal nuances while doing so. This is particularly evident in her singing of 'I Fall to Pieces.'
The songs are supported by a terrific six-piece band (music director/conductor Jacob Priddy on keyboard, Tessa Sacramone on fiddle and acoustic guitar, Chris Brooks on pedal steel, Bruce Hagist on guitar, Brian Grochowski on standup bass, and Mike Sartini on drums) situated on stage and directly behind her. Sound designer Ben Scheff masterfully balances the music with the vocals and the occasional off-stage singing.
In short, Lewis-Michelson is a pleasure to watch and listen to, which is a good thing considering that this musical is mostly a concert taking place on scenic designer Cassie McKnight's rendition of Houston's Esquire Ballroom stage. Paul Jonathan Davis's lighting helps create the venue's ambiance, facilitates the mood swings in the songs, and beautifully highlights the actor during her singing performances. Isolating lighting also allows the ballroom to transition into Louise's small kitchen.
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While the staging of Patsy's performances is a fine-tuned affair, one wishes that director Kat Moser-Priddy invested as much creative energy into reeling in what Louise brings to the table during and between Patsy's songs.
Callanan's Louise effuses such genuine enthusiasm for Patsy that it's often disarming and distancing. Just watching her watch Patsy sing — her face beaming, her body in perpetual motion — is endearing. But Callanan rarely just watches and what is most disarming and distancing are her antics during Lewis-Michelson's performances, including conducting the band, dancing downstage, flirting with the audience, joining Patsy at the microphone, and at one point heading down the stage steps to two-step with a patron unfortunate enough to make eye contact with her. All the while, Lewis-Michelson's Patsy sings and rarely talks.
Clearly, there's a disconnect between the show's musical performances and its narrative that needs to be better aligned. This calls for more creative risk-taking by director Moser-Piddy. If 'Always... Patsy Cline' is, in fact, a memory play drawn from Louise's selective reflections — for what else could explain the self-centeredness that drives her interactions with Patsy and a script that holds the singer in saintly reverence — then a more explicit and dramatic theatricality needs to be embraced in the show's production values.
And would it be asking too much for Louise to recall a more engaged band? Surely a group of house musicians would love backing up the famous Patsy Cline. And yet, in this production, the band is stonefaced from start to finish and never interacts with the singer or reacts to the emotional songs she is singing.
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Some audience members may be satisfied watching a mild-mannered, simply staged, music-driven two-hander on a summer night in a historic playhouse. And they may be more forgiving. Me, I think this story deserves a more engaging telling.
ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE
Book by Ted Swindley. Music and lyrics by an assortment of songwriters. Directed by Kat Moser-Priddy. At Theatre By The Sea, 364 Cards Pond Road, Wakefield, R.I. Through June 21. Tickets are $74-$100 (including fees). 401-782-8587.
Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him
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