BWW Reviews: Go On A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE At Totem Pole Playhouse

It is entirely possible that Patsy Cline is, despite her death 50 years ago this year, the most popular female singer in America. Her albums still sell, and k.d. lang's beginning career was based upon her uncanny vocal resemblance to the legend. And there may be no other American woman performer with as many shows based on her life and career. Especially in an area that loves country music, it's a very safe bet that a show based on Patsy Cline would be popular, no matter what.

But sometimes that show is A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE, and sometimes your lead vocalist/Patsy is a killer. When that happens, you aren't merely showcasing the music of a legend, you're showcasing the legend herself. Dean Regan's show, the only one of the many Patsy Cline revues specifically approved by her estate, is currently on at Totem Pole Playhouse, directed by Totem Pole veteran David Hemsley Caldwell, and its lead, Kara Boyer, an Off-Broadway and Lincoln Center performer who's portrayed the singer before, may not be k.d. lang... but she might just be Patsy Cline. Close your eyes, sip your beer, and think "honky tonk," and it just might be Patsy singing her heart out on that stage.

This reviewer is no particular fan of jukebox musicals, especially those that are basically merely revues of a performer's work that are dependent upon cast doing impressions of the performer, with no particular plot (see all five thousand or more current Beatles tribute shows), but... even this reviewer acknowledges that we're talking about Patsy Cline. That's different, and that's special. Patsy Cline often covered songs sung by thousands of others, "Bill Bailey" for example, and did them in a way that no one else ever has; simply to sing a Patsy Cline song without being able to be Patsy Cline seems almost sacrilegious.

In that respect. Totem Pole's production triumphs. Boyer steps into Patsy's shoes and onto the stage, and that's all that's needed; Patsy is in the house, folks. Her backup singers, Griffin Hammel and Dallas Padoven, both new to Totem Pole, are fine not only as her background vocalists but as the commercial singers for the radio station presumably broadcasting Patsy's story; sit back and be entertained, as well, by detergent and cleaning product jingles that some in the audience knew and loved years ago, with a comic touch both from them and from Bradley Wayne Smith as "Little Big Man," the Winchester radio station's frenetic disc jockey. Smith plays the quintessentiAl Small-town DJ, playing music as himself, then donning a generic "newscaster" voice to read news clips and an enthusiastic Ray Scott sportscaster impression. He also plays a few comic turns - a hayseed Grand Ole Opry comedian, a louche Las Vegas show host.

What separates this jukebox revue from many others is not just the power of Boyer's vocal performance but a fine piece of theatrical work in putting the show together - as the audience watches Patsy progress from local shows to Grand Ole Opry to Vegas to Carnegie Hall, we watch her wardrobe progress (some very nice work by Erin Nugent), her performing style develop, and the sound of her music change. The girl who started out as a more traditional country singer moved first into a more popularly palatable western swing and then, losing a considerable amount of her twang, into more popular jazz and standards arrangements and styles. It was in those later popular music sounds, not her earlier "pure" country, that the Virginia girl became America's singer.

The songs, naturally, are all popular Patsy Cline numbers - "Walkin' After Midnight," "She's Got You," "I Fall to Pieces," and the title song, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee." And, of course, the song that every Patsy Cline fan wants to hear her sing live, even though it's only a show about her - "Crazy." And aiding with the sound of those songs is a five-piece band that, in this production, deserves to have a show in their own right. This on-stage "pit band" should have its own pre-show bluegrass performance in order to be appreciated fully; everyone from their piano and accordion player to the school-age bassist are talents in their own right who could give an appreciative audience one great show of their own.

The weakest link in this show may not be as much Smith's performance as Little Big Man as the way his part is written. The minor character comics - the comedians, the lounge host, and the like - are clownishly and stereotypically drawn, and it is difficult not to wince at some of the material the characters are given. Smith, no stranger to the Totem Pole boards, is a fine performer, and it would be nice to see his light shine in better-drawn parts, such as he has had before.

Caldwell's direction is sufficiently tight, although it is musical director Steven Zumbrun who deserves credit for the most important thing, the sound of this show.

For Patsy Cline fans (almost anyone who's ever heard her on a day they've had a heartache), it's worth the trip to Fayetteville. However, devout fans who need another fix or those who miss this production may be able to catch the same show - though in a different production - at Allenberry Playhouse later in the season. Boyer's performance as Cline, however, is worth the trip for fans. At Totem Pole through June 23. Call 717-352-2164 or visit www.totempoleplayhouse.org for tickets.

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