By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, now opening the Capitol Theatre’s Summer Season, is a joyous celebration of a country legend taken far too soon – and the times that made her.
The lady with the voice that pulled on your heartstrings was trying to establish her career in the early 1960s, when you had to get record play on the radio to get ahead. Patsy made the rounds of the radio stations (as aspiring artists did in those days) and refused to give up.
A Closer Walk spotlights the results, as this determined young woman begins her climb to the top, well on her way to establishing herself as one of country music’s earliest female superstars.
It’s a show with two characters.
Michelle Bouey not only had big shoes to fill in taking on the title role, but she also had the distinction of being the first BIPOC actor to portray Patsy Cline. She is blessed with her own tug-at-the-heartstrings voice, showcased in uptempo tunes, the lovelorn ballads Cline is so well known for, plus a poignant rendition of a certain hymn she loved.
She plays the role with energy and bounce, which may seem a contrast to the yearning tone of loss in such beloved songs as Walking After Midnight and Sweet Dreams. But then, Patsy Cline had only just reached her 30th birthday by the time she was killed in a 1963 airplane crash.
Tyler Murree, the other cast member, is a wonderful surprise. He basically fills whatever role is needed to introduce Patsy in various settings – as the disc jockey Little Big Man at radio station WINC, as the comic hayseed host emceeing her show at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as the martini-swilling lounge lizard in a Las Vegas showroom. A change of the blazer, and you get a whole new character.
Murree is every bit as high-energy as his castmate, only he skilfully plays it for laughs. He is obviously enjoying himself, and he makes you want to come along for the ride.
And where would Patsy Cline be without a great band. She’s definitely got it in Tom Leighton (keyboards), Matt Ray (guitars), Jason O’Brien (bass) and Matthew Machanda (percussion), who give it their all – and with whom Bouey interacts charmingly.
Capitol Theatre Artistic Producer Rob Kempson personally directed this initial offering of the theatre’s Summer Season. He took a moment on opening night to commend the creative spirits behind the soaring set that, with masterful lighting, can suggest a barn or a concert hall.
Costume designer Anna Treusch missed nothing in recreating the styles of 1963, right down to the crinolines that often peeked out from under a lady’s skirt (what young girl of today could imagine wearing that!).
A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline by Dean Regan runs through June 26 at the Capitol.
