ALWAYS PATSY CLINE ALWAYS
A Review of the Hoogland Center for the Arts' Production of
Ted Swindley's Always... Patsy Cline
by James L. Seay
First off, let me confess that I am not a Country Music fan. Jazz is my musical forte,
and Country Music is way down on the list, a few steps above Hip-Hop. However, there
is a small handful of Country Music performers that I have found engaging - Johnny
Cash, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and Alison Krause, who used to sit in the front row of
my English class at Champaign Central High School. To this short list, I should also
add Patsy Cline, the subject of the excellent performance I was privileged to audit last
night at Springfield, Illinois' Hoogland Center for the Arts.
Directed by Lori Ann Mitts (who also plays Patsy Cline), the play is a tribute to Patsy
Cline's music (indeed, Miss Mitts sings twenty-six of Cline's songs, a daunting task in its
own right), but is also the story of the friendship between Cline and Houston housewife
and mother, Louise Seger, played by Sandra Fritz. Miss Fritz gives a bravura
performance in what amounts to be a one-woman show (as far as acting is concerned)
chronicling Cline's career and their friendship, from her early days as a contestant on
Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts to her death in 1963. Fritz is on the stage constantly
throughout the two hour performance with "enough lines to sink the Titanic" as an old
colleague of mine was fond of saying. She does it with aplomb and never once falls out
of her "good ol' girl" Texas accent.
Cline suffered from rheumatic fever when she was thirteen years old, and after
recovering from the fever, Cline recalled, "The Fever affected my throat and when I
recovered, I had this booming voice like Kate Smith's." Mitts is not quite Patsy Cline,
but does an excellent job impersonating her. While her singing voice could be
described as someone doing a good job of copying Cline, what permits her to become
Cline on stage is her excellent understanding and usage of Cline's musical stylings. As
mentioned before, she treats us to twenty-six songs which certainly would stretch the
endurance of Cline, herself.
Backing up Mitts and Fritz (honestly, I am not making this up! That's their names!) is
the musical talents of "The Bodacious Bobcats Band," consisting of Doug Hahn (Joe Bob) conducting and piano, my favorite percussionist since Buddy Rich, Mary E. Myers
(Bobbie Bob) on drums, Gary Myers (Billy Bob) on guitar and Robb Stark (Jim Bob on
bass). I was delighted that early in the performance, Mitts (as Patsy Cline) introduced
each and gave them an opportunity for a solo to show of their not inconsiderable
musical talents. Aside from that, they did exactly what they were supposed to do -
accompany Mitts (Cline) as she sang, and made the obligatory occasional comment to
the performer. Make no mistake, this was one darn fantastic band.
One of the early songs in the production's score is "Walkin' After Midnight," a Don
Hecht/Alan Block number that Cline originally did not like, and had not planned to sing
on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, but Godfrey insisted she sing it, and, as we all know,
it became one of Cline's signature numbers. It is followed by another Cline signature
tune, "I Fall to Pieces," written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. Perhaps Cline's
most famous signature song, "Crazy," comes in the second act. "Crazy" written by
Willie Nelson, was originally hated by Cline as she felt that it was geared toward
Nelson's singular singing style (not surprising since he wrote it) and she found it
(particularly the high notes) too difficult for her to sing. The first take in her recording
session of "Crazy" was a disaster, but it then became more associated with Cline than it
ever did with it's creator, Willie Nelson.
In spite of her Country Music roots, Patsy Cline became a successful cross-over
musical artist, making a name for herself in the area of Pop as well as Country. She
died, like so many other Pop and Country singers of the Sixties, all too young (she was
only thirty) in the crash of a private plane, on her way back to Nashville. In a Piper
Comanche piloted by her manager, Randy Hughes, she landed to refuel in Dyersburg,
Tennessee. Hughs was advised to spend the night in Dyersburg because of
deteriorating weather conditions, but chose to ignore the advice and press on. They left
the Dyersburg airport at 6:07 on March 3rd, 1963 and crashed into a forest outside
Camden, Tennessee thirteen minutes later (when they found Cline's body, her watch
had stopped at 6:20). All aboard were killed. The wreckage was discovered by Roger
Miller. And Patsy Cline passed into musical history, becoming the first female artist to
be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
A good three-quarters of the Hoogland Center for the Arts was filled on the opening
night of Always... Patsy Cline and received it with thunderous applause after each song.
The curtain call brought the audience to its feet again in wild applause. It is a
production worth attending, even for a dedicated jazz lover like me. I am glad I went.
You should go, too. Always... Patsy Cline will be presented again tonight (January 30)
and also on Sunday. For ticket reservations, contact the Hoogland Center For the Arts
at (217) 523 ARTS (523-2787). But don't delay. The only seats left last night were in
the Peanut Gallery!
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