So Good It’s Almost Patsy Cline

Sharon Playhouse’s production of “Always... Patsy Cline” is a sure-fire hit that will send you out of the theater humming — maybe singing — the tunes that made Cline the first country crossover-into-pop recording artist. Written in 1988 by Ted Swindley, 25 years after Cline’s death, the play is drawn from the memories of Louise Seger, Cline’s pen pal.

While most theatergoers will know many of Cline’s iconic songs —  bluesy torch ballads about lost or unrequited love — few will know the story of her short life and brief, blazing career. She was born in Virginia in 1932, could not read music and played the piano by ear. After winning an Arthur Godfrey talent competition in 1957 with “Walkin’ After Midnight,” she became one of the biggest stars of the Grand Ole Opry and turned out a string of hits for Decca Records. In 1963, when she was only 30, she died in the crash of a small plane flying home from a concert.

No sense of impending doom pervades Swindley’s play, however, nor the bright and upbeat production in Sharon. As narrator we have Alison Arngrim’s Louise,, a no-longer-young, divorced single mom and obsessed Cline fan, who meets Patsy at Houston’s Esquire Ballroom. Before the night is over, Louise has persuaded the club manager to present two shows, doubling Cline’s fee; made sure the band, especially the drummer, doesn’t speed; and taken the singer home for bacon and eggs, which Cline cooks. So begins a friendly correspondence between the two women. (Cline, who kept her first husband’s last name professionally, even after she remarried, signed her letters, Always... Patsy Cline.)

But no one comes to the play for the story; they come for the music. As Patsy, Carter Calvert is sensational. Her powerful voice is capable of matching Cline’s throaty contralto lows and reaching big, full-out top notes. Performing over two dozen Cline staples, Calvert moves between the heartache of “I Fall to Pieces,” “Faded Love” and “Back in Baby’s Arms” to Neil Sedaka’s rhythmic “Stupid Cupid.” Act 2 begins with a medley of “Sweet Dreams” and “She’s Got You” and includes Willie Nelson’s great “Crazy.” “Just a Closer Walk With Thee” and “How Great Thou Art,” sung without accompaniment, shows off Calvert’s perfect pitch.

Arngrim’s Louise stalks the stage in boots and western drag. She speaks directly to the audience. She sympathizes that Sharon has no country music radio station, and suggests that we relocate. When she tells us of Patsy’s death, it is matter of fact and quick; because Patsy is soon back on stage to sing. (If two encores seem too much, they aren’t, believe me. You’ll want the music to go on and on!)

Set coordinator Thomas P. Swetz has overseen a stage with the band arranged above the main playing area, Louise’s kitchen on the left and a table and chairs in the Houston ballroom on the right. Daryl Bornstein’s sound design is excellent, but it is Jamie Roderick’s wonderful lighting that binds the show together and gives it a sparking sheen.

Music Director, Pianist Eric Thomas Johnson leads a talented six-piece band of Bruce Carlson (pedal steel guitar), Elizabeth Handman (fiddle), Mike Lee (bass), Steve Siktberg (electric guitar) and Roger Cohen (drummer and Calvert’s husband). Director Alan M-L Wager has brought the whole show together.

 “Always... Patsy Cline” continues at Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, Conn., through Sept. 2. Call 860-364-7469, ext. 200 or 201 or go to www.sharonplayhouse.org for tickets.