Review: 'Always ... Patsy Cline' Is Always ... Perfectly Captivating
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
When I closed my eyes Wednesday night during Wagon Wheel Theatre’s production of “Always ... Patsy Cline”, as Ashley Picciallo sang Cline’s songs, I could hear and feel Cline in every note. Not only did Picciallo sing as well as the legendary Cline, but Picciallo’s voice often – no disrespect – blew Cline’s voice out of the water. Picciallo hit every note spot on, she soared high when she had to and brought a lot of emotional depth to the songs that required it. Often times over the years when I’ve gone to a Wagon Wheel show, there’s been renditions of songs that I would have loved to record for posterity’s sake. Songs that I would love to have access to on CD or whatever in order to hear over and over again because the voice(s) and/or singer(s) behind them just were amazing. For Picciallo, I’d want to record and keep her versions of all of Cline’s hits. Picciallo’s artistry is so powerful as she belts out each and every Cline song, there’s no telling where her amazing talent will take her. Of course, “Always ... Patsy Cline” is a two-woman show. And when Jennifer Dow takes the stage as Louise Seger, she provides as much laughter as the entire company did for Wagon Wheel’s last show, “Lend Me a Tenor”, which Dow was in. There were eight actors in “Tenor”. Dow has an incredible gift when it comes to comedy that simply can not be denied. If the Wagon Wheel had a “hall of fame,” there’d be names on it like Roy Hine, Carrie McNaulty, Rod Thomas, etc., but it wouldn’t be a hall of fame without Dow’s name right up there with them. Her comedic timing is impeccable. She is phenomenal in her delivery, and her expressions of surprise are hard to imitate. If you want a lesson in comedic performance, get Dow to be your teacher. In “Always ... Patsy Cline”, Dow proves she knows comedy like the back of her hand. Together on stage, Picciallo and Dow are a true dynamic duo. “Always” is based on the true story of Cline’s friendship with Texan Louise Seger. Cline and Seger met before one of Cline’s shows one night, and Seger was a big fan already of Cline’s. Cline ended up spending the night at Seger’s house, but the two women became pen pals for the next two years until Cline’s death. Cline died in an airplane accident in 1963. The show features 25 of Cline’s songs, interwoven with Seger’s narration of how the two women met and became friends. It blends comedy and music with friendship and heartache. Some of the songs include “Back in Baby’s Arms”, “Walkin’ After Midnight”, “I Fall to Pieces”, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Crazy” and “Faded Love”. On “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”, I wrote that Picciallo’s voice was angelic. When she sang “If I Could See the World (Through the Eyes of a Child)” and “Just a Closer Walk”, I noted how uplifting Picciallo’s voice was with those numbers. And as for fun songs, there were many including “Shake Rattle and Roll”. The show takes place in just a few locations, with each location having its own corner on the WWT stage. The set design is the late Roy Hine’s, so anyone who saw the show from about seven or eight years ago will remember it. It was done perfectly well then, and it still works today. I saw the show back then myself, with Kelli Cramer and McNaulty in the roles, and loved it. But I’m not going to compare the two versions because each set of women really made the show their own and if you liked it then, you’ll like it now. Maybe even more so. But don’t not go see this version because you saw it last time. You’ll like it again with these two sensational ladies in the roles. In most Wagon Wheel shows, the band/orchestra is hidden away below the stage. You hear them play, but you never see them. For “Always”, they are set up around the stage, and do a perfectly fine job in their performance and “roles”. The band interacts at times with the characters of Seger and Cline, and often add some humorous moments to the show. A couple of them also provide some backup singing, and they harmonize very well with Picciallo’s voice. There’s Michael Uselmann as conductor and on keyboards; Thomas N. Stirling on fiddle; Sean Carney on electric guitar; Gary Martin on steel guitar; Tom Keranen on bass guitar; and Jordan Arsnow on percussion. As the Bodacious Bobcats, the band deserves their standing ovation as much as the two extremely talented women. Speaking of interaction, the audience for the show also gets to be a “character” for the show. Seger and Cline sometimes speak out to the crowd. At the start of Act I, Cline says, “Howdy, everybody!”, expecting the crowd to say howdy back. It was a weak response from the audience Wednesday, so she said, “That was weak. I said, ‘Howdy, everybody!’” That time, the audience responded a little louder. Dow as Seger also pulls a man out of the audience to flirt and dance with. The audience last night responded really well to that. There aren’t a lot of shows where you can necessarily pull that off well, but it works in “Always”, and again, I think that’s due largely in part to Picciallo’s and Dow’s charisma.Costume designer Stephen R. Hollenbeck also, again, does a spectacular job for this show. The costumes look like a wardrobe that one would expect and think Cline and Seger to wear, especially at that time period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Add on the wigs, and Picciallo doesn’t even resemble the woman I interviewed Monday afternoon or in her headshot in the program. Hollenbeck and his crew really does transform Picciallo visually into Cline. As Cline, Picciallo changes at least five times, possibly more as I lost count by Act II. But every change is effective. With “Always ... Patsy Cline”, Artistic Director Scott Michaels ends the 56th season of the Wagon Wheel on a very high note. Finding Picciallo for the role of Cline, and casting Dow as Seger, were the best two things he did for this show, honoring the achievement and life of the legendary Patsy Cline. My rating of the show (out of four): 4. To order tickets or for more information, call the box office at 574-267-8041, or visit the Wagon Wheel website at wagonwheeltheatre.com
