‘Always . . . Patsy Cline’ a musical, comic hit

Tom Titus

When you were young, or maybe not so young, did you ever dream of

spending a weekend with your favorite entertainer?

Probably; most of us have. But few of us can match the experience

of Louise Seger.

Houston divorcee Seger’s idol was legendary country singer Patsy

Cline, who stopped off for a one-night stand at a Houston club one

day in 1961. Naturally, Seger and two of her friends were first in

line -- and what happened then forms the factual premise of Ted

Swindley’s

“Always...Patsy Cline,” now playing through August at the Laguna

Playhouse.

With Christa Jackson employing a spectacular singing voice as the

singer and Sally Struthers chewing up yards of scenery as the

megafan, “Always...Patsy Cline” will knock your socks off both

musically and comically. .

The two-woman extravaganza, imaginatively directed by Sharon

Rosen, is an evening alternating between Jackson’s superb song

stylings and Struthers’ hilarious antics.

Struthers -- who broke into the big time as the fourth banana on

TV’s “All in the Family” -- has long since come into her own as a

comic actress, as evidenced by her outrageous comic turn as Miss

Hannigan in a touring production of “Annie” glimpsed a while back at

the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Here, she has the stage virtually to herself -- except, of course,

for Jackson’s inspired belting of nearly two dozen numbers from the

Patsy Cline songbook. And, much like Jerry Lewis used to ham it up

while Dean Martin was singing, she occupies a good bit of Jackson’s

time as well without thoroughly upstaging the singer.

Struthers, her voluminous blond locks flying this way and that,

plays her yee-haw character to the hilt, narrating her story to the

audience and keeping the five-piece orchestra behind her in line.

Jackson is simply incredible in her recapturing of Cline’s vocal

presentation. Jackson should convert every non-country music fan in

the audience with her dynamic, throaty assaults on songs like

“Crazy,” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”

Providing superlative musical backup are the Bodacious Bobcats.

With all the high-voltage comedy and glorious music, you might

expect “Always...Patsy Cline” to have a happy ending. But, as most

people know, the singer died in a plane crash two years after the

events depicted in the show.

The tragedy hardly casts a pall, however, as Jackson emerges as

the spirit of her character to sing the “High Society” number “True

Love,” then joins with Struthers for a rousing finale of “Bill

Bailey.”

“Always...Patsy Cline is one of those rare magical moments in the

theater that you wish could go on and on -- although its two-hour

running time, sans intermission, would exhaust lesser performers.

It’s a show, and experience, you’ll remember. Always.

* TOM TITUS writes theater reviews for the Coastline Pilot.