BWW Interviews: Director Mitchell Greco and Playwright Ted Swindley Talk HONKY TONK ANGELS

Stages Repertory Theatre Company opens it 2015 - 2016 season with the bright lights, big city musical revue, HONKY TONK ANGELS. The show includes country classics "Delta Dawn," "Stand By Your Man," "Harper Valley PTA" and more!

All of the classic country hits tell the story of honky tonk angels, Darlene, Angela and Sue Ellen, who take the Greyhound to Nashville to avoid their troubles-grief, six kids and a cheating husband, or a boss who offers one too many indecent proposals-and to follow their "Music City Dreams."

BroadwayWorld.com talks to Ted Swindley, playwright of the country music revue and founder of Stages Theatre as well as Mitchell Greco, director and choreographer of the Stages' presentation of the hit show.

Keep scrolling to read Director and Choreographer Mitchell Greco's on the high heels, teased hair, cowboy hats, and honky tonk singing of HONKY TONK ANGELS.

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Mitchell, there are so, so many classics in HONKY TONK ANGELS-"Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)," "Stand By Your Man," and "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" to name a few. I have chills just thinking about them! How in the world do you do justice to these insanely well-loved songs?

Mitchell Greco: I think it's a combination of paying reverence to the original songs and artists, and bringing in a twist that will help move the narrative along. I think that so much of the fun of musicals that come from an existing catalogue of songs are the experiences and personal feelings about those songs that the audience brings in with them. So, you want to honor and acknowledge that while trying to bring something new to the table that helps move the story forward.

What is HONKY TONK ANGELS all about?

Mitchell Greco: To me, the piece is about following your dreams, becoming the "best version of yourself," and the power of friendship and music. Once we had established that groundwork, we could add on the music/"entertainment" aspect of the show, which is a huge one!

Despite my love for giant wigs and gaudy costumes, I know there's a risk to dealing with comedy that centers on working class, Southern Americans. It is very easy to go from charming exaggeration to hurtful caricature. What approach have you and the cast taken performance-wise to create well-rounded characters engaged in real relationships?

Mitchell Greco: Great question. Before we did anything, we made sure we knew who these people were - not the punchline, but who they are, what they want, how they're going to get it, etc. Country music also has roots in the disenfranchised, so that lends itself to these stories in a compelling way. This is a long way to answer your question: honesty and compassion first, jokes second. The goal is to entertain without offending.

Speaking of performances, the production depends heavily on casting. Clearly Chelsea Ryan McCurdy (Angela), Kelley Peters (Darlene), and Holland Vavra (Sue Ellen) are incredibly talented, but how are they each uniquely suited to the material?

Mitchell Greco: Not only are Chelsea, Holland and Kelley incredibly talented (with killer voices), but they're also super intelligent and extremely collaborative. I believe strongly in hiring smart people, pointing them in the same direction, and getting out of their way. The comedy, heart, and soul that these women bring to this play is invaluable. Chelsea is instinctively maternal in real life, and added with stellar comedic chops and a rocking voice, she's ideal for Angela. Holland, a Stages favorite, is also a comedic genius with a killer voice is perfect for Sue Ellen. Kelley is sensitive, sweet and wonderfully talented, and really grounds the piece as Darlene. I couldn't have asked for a better cast.

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Before the jukebox musical, there was the "revuesical"- the name HONKY TONK ANGELS creator Ted Swindley gave to his baby, a hybrid form of, you guessed it, revue and musical theater. Swindley fell in love with the theatrical form and has returned to it many times over the course of his career. First, there was ALWAYS... PATSY CLINE, released in 1988. Then HONKY TONK ANGELS. And that was only the beginning. Swindley loved The Angels so much that he created a trilogy around the show that includes STAGES: THE HONKY TONK ANGELS HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR and THE HONKY TONK ANGELS FINAL CHAPTER: BUBBA'S REVENGE. Here, Swindley reveals what makes HONKY TONK ANGELS so much goshdarn fun!

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Ted, you wrote both HONKY TONK ANGELS and ALWAYS ... PATSY CLINE. Why does country music stir you?

Ted Swindley: ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE really opened the door for my appreciation of country music. I was neither a fan of Patsy Cline or country music before I created that show. However, after working on ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE, I learned to have a great respect for the genre- the heart, the storytelling, and the honesty of emotion in the music. I think it was natural for me to want to further explore the women's voice in country music.

It seems to me that you chose to focus on the music when crafting HONKY TONK ANGELS. (As opposed to ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE where you focused a little bit more on the narrative.) What spurred this decision?
Ted Swindley: I don't think the musical journeys of ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE and THE HONKY TONK ANGELS are all that different-ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE has 27 songs and HONKY TONK ANGELS has 30 songs, I think-but you are correct that the story in ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE is probably more prominent and detailed than HONKY TONK ANGELS because ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE really explores in detail an intense relationship whereas HONKY TONK ANGELS spends more time on the joy of singing country music, which is inherent to the story of the characters in this show.

Revues run the risk of aimlessness and, to be indelicate-so sorry!-dullness. How does HONKY TONK ANGELS circumvent this pitfall?

Ted Swindley: Well, I hope I avoid aimlessness and dullness through creating engaging characters and a simple heartfelt story. Plus, I think there is a lot of variety in the musical styles by different songwriters that keep the show interesting.

How long did it take to complete HONKY TONK ANGELS?

Ted Swindley: As any show, HONKY TONK ANGELS evolved over several productions. As Stephen Sondheim has been quoted saying, "Musicals are not written. They are rewritten." Well, that's true to a degree with this show. It probably took me a few months to create the initial draft of the show. I took a lot of time listening and listening to many, many songs before I selected the ones for the show and the songs that made it in are, hopefully, grounded in telling the story and developing the portraits of these rather archetypal [but], hopefully not stereotypical, characters. The show premiered at The American Theatre Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma with probably 10 different songs than are in the show today. The story changed very little over the course of time but the dialogue and overall direction of play became more detailed. (I directed all of these early productions.)

What did you learn about your craft when researching and creating HONKY TONK ANGELS?

Ted Swindley: For me there are many factors that go into the creation of a new show. My observations, prodding from others to write another country music show, seeing the different kinds of women who auditioned for [ALWAYS...] PATSY CLINE (including a "50 year old biker mama" and a girl who told me that Jesus told her that she would play the role of Patsy), and the wide range of demographics of people who saw ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE-old, young, city slickers and country folks-were certainly in the mix of the creation of HONKY TONK ANGELS. But the final piece of the puzzle was my trips by the bus station where I saw these women disembarking in Nashville to follow their "Music City Dream." I guess it is much like actors moving to NYC with Broadway in their eyes or performers in LA with film stardom as their goal.

OK-enough with the serious questions! What makes this show a good time?

Ted Swindley: I love your last question: What makes the show a good time? The short answer is everything about it!! Mostly, I think the show is full of [emphatically] joy! It is a joyous celebration of women's voices in country music. It has some music that everyone knows and some real musical surprises. How many people know that Loretta Lynn wrote a controversial song in the 1970s about the birth control pill boldly entitled "The Pill"? The show is meant to be light, simple and above all fun for the audience- that's what it is all about!

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THE HONKY TONK ANGELS runs through September 6, 2015, Wednesdays & Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays & Saturdays 8:00 p.m. & Sundays 3:00 p.m. at Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway Houston, TX 77019. Tickets: $21 - $65. For more information or to purchase tickets, please call 713-527-0123 or visit www.stagestheatre.com.

Images courtesy of Stages Repertory Theatre

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