Imagine spotting your favorite singer grabbing a drink before her concert. You’re thrilled enough just to say hi, but soon she’s sitting with your friends, requesting you keep an eye on her drummer and accepting your invitation to sleep over at your house. This implausible but true story is the basis of “Always… Patsy Cline,” a breezy concert dressed up as a play and presented by Geva Theatre Company through August 3.
The theater welcomes audiences in to a lavish Grand Ole Opry set designed by Carolyn Mraz. Two parallel arches (reflective of the cast, two women) decorated with sparkling music notes, stars, boots, cowboy hats and a horseshoe preside over the live five-piece band. There’s a feminine kitchenette with a pink oven and floral decorations on one side of the stage and a bar near a jukebox on the other.
After a honky-tonk instrumental opening by the tight band, under the musical direction of grinning keyboardist Don Kot, the titular singer emerges. Patsy Cline (Emmi Bills) dons a red dress with stars and tassels and cowgirl boots, performing “Back in Baby’s Arms” and “Walkin’ After Midnight” beneath lush yellow and purple lights.
Fervent Patsy Cline fans in the audience can relax once Bills begins to sing — her hearty belt and mild twang do the 1950s country western icon justice. Both conversational and contemplative in her delivery, she evokes the wistfulness of love and heartache that made Patsy Cline a beloved performer to fans like Louise Seger.
Louise (Sonja Marquis) is the show’s brassy, outgoing narrator, describing the night she and her idol became pen pals. The Texan divorcee and technician hears Patsy on the Arthur Godfrey show in 1957 and falls in love at first listen, making daily requests to her local radio station to play “I Fall to Pieces.” Marquis is commanding as Louise, unafraid to make eye contact and even flirt with audience members.
Directed by Geva general manager Thalia Schramm, this production reunites the cast she led at a production in Michigan nine years ago. The familiarity both Bills and Marquis have with the material deepens the nostalgia that permeates the show.
When Louise first invites Patsy to share some drinks with her friends, she’s in awe that “Patsy was just as much us as we were.” We have to take her word for it — throughout the show, Patsy maintains a mythical presence, always a breath away from performing her next hit. There are a few biographical facts dropped (an unhappy marriage; her untimely death), but Patsy feels more like a living legend than an actual person or friend.
This is partly a feature of Ted Swindley’s script. Written in 1988 — about a decade before “Mamma Mia” would make jukebox musicals a Broadway subgenre — the show thankfully avoids shoehorning songs into a flimsy plot. Instead, Louise (who is the much more fleshed out character), delivers what at times feels like a one-woman show interspersed with diegetic Patsy Cline performances.
Cline’s larger-than-life persona is enhanced by Bills’ towering stage presence and an array of stylish outfits designed by Amanda Roberge. While Louise always appears in jeans and a plaid shirt with a handkerchief tied around her neck, looking like any ole audience member, Patsy cycles through 1950s concert attire, including a sparkling periwinkle dress and stylish boots with a cowgirl hat.
The lack of action in the script is compensated by the visual spectacle of lighting design by Bentley Heydt. Deeply atmospheric, the stage captures the feel of an idyllic summer night as the lights phase through all the colors of a majestic sunset and lightbulbs lined across the front arch twinkle like stars. Between the colorful lighting and costumes, the show maintains a sense of movement as it presents 27 songs in a brisk two hours, including intermission.
The show delivers on easygoing summer entertainment, offering a concert through the eyes of a larger-than-life fan. It’s lovely to watch one woman get unabashedly excited about another, and more so to see the two connect, if only for one night, through their love of music. Fans of Patsy Cline are sure to enjoy this homage to a woman whose music allows her to have a life beyond the grave.
“Always… Patsy Cline” runs at Geva Theatre through August 3. More info and tickets here.
Katherine Vargas is a contributor to CITY.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
