BWW Reviews: HONKY TONK ANGELS Take Center Stage at Dutch Apple

Ted Swindley is possibly the most popular playwright you don't know. He's no spinner of Broadway hits, but he has a way with the smaller jukebox musical that draws people in. Responsible for the "other" main Patsy Cline show, ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE, he showcases the other great women country singers of a now slightly nostalgic vintage in HONKY TONK ANGELS - where you can hear the hits of Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Jeannie C. Riley, and Dolly Parton, among others, bringing down the house if they're even nearly as well-sung as the versions their original performers gave us.

At Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, the very popular songs - you know most of them, possibly by heart, if you're over 40, even if you're not a country music lover - are put on stage by director/choreographer Lauren Sobon, and sung by three women of certainly sound voice - Jama Bowen, playing Angela, Kaitlin Doughty, playing Darlene, and Alison Rose Munn as Sue Ellen. Unlike ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE, these aren't real people, but they're very much real women, likely ones you've met - the overworked and underappreciated housewife and mother, the divorced career woman with the job from hell, and the young girl with more dreams than money. All of them love music, though, and all three meet on a bus to Nashville, where they've each headed to try their hand, just once, at seeing if anyone likes their singing as much as they do. They decide to pool their forces as a girl group, The Honky Tonk Angels.

In the first act, we meet Angela, Sue Ellen, and Darlene on their home turf, monologizing and singing about their lives and their issues. Bowen's "Stand By Your Man" is particularly striking, as is Munn's crowd-pleasing "These Boots Are Made For Walking." Munn also rocks her performance of a not-unanticipated "Nine to Five," the staple anthem of the exhausted, unhappy office worker. Although Doughty belts a fine version of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billy Joe," the story's explanation for her relationship with Billy Joe McAllister, while it thinly fits the lyrics of the song, is possibly one of the weakest of a number of weak plot points - but this is not a show you watch for plot, but for the pleasure of hearing a collection of women's honky tonk numbers that you know by heart. By the end of the act, the three meet each other on the Greyhound to Nashville, and they've started harmonizing on a complete rock-out of "Delta Dawn" that ensures that they'll decide to form a group before the bus arrives at the station.

The second act is set in Hillbilly Heaven, a local Nashville joint where their New Group, The Honky Tonk Angels, is playing a farewell set. This act is lavishly furnished with costumes - not only their group costume, but the ones that they wear individually for various songs. "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" brought down the house both for its performance and for its costuming, and the costuming for "Harper Valley PTA" is similarly delightfully amusing - John P. White's costumes for the individual turns the performers take at their solo honky tonk numbers are heavily reminiscent of the Bob Mackie costumes that used to be seen on "The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour" when Cher performed. There are a couple of outstanding group numbers in the second half as well, notably a rousing "Rocky Top." The one problem with the number is that the imagined clogging by the trio really fails to say "clogging" as much as it says "tap dancing" - the harmonies and delivery are fine.

The major flaw in this particular production is not in the cast or in the direction, but in the costuming outside of the solo turns in the second act. The excess of fringe on costumes at certain points threatens to take over the stage. Nothing may say "country" like fringed jackets, but there's a point at which trim attempts to take on a life of its own. Still, if that's the worst thing that can be said about a show, it's not a bad show of its sort.

This is not one of those shows that's deeply introspective, thoughtful, or notable for Tony-winning music - though you may find a Country Music Award winner or two and some Grammy winners on the menu. It's a lightweight, audience-friendly jukebox musical full of women's honky tonk and torch numbers, humor, and an uncomplicated, old-fashioned happy ending. If that's up your alley, this is your show, and this is your production of it. If you're looking for a big, spectacular musical full of fantasy, you'll find those later in the Dutch Apple season.

At Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre through February 8. For tickets, call 717-898-1900 or visit www.dutchapple.com.

Photos courtesy of Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre.

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