“Crazy” is far more than late singer Patsy Cline’s greatest hit.
The term also serves as probably the best description for the lifelong bond that formed between the country music megastar and the Houston, Texas, woman who inexplicably became one of her best friends in a musical world that seems far more down-to-earth than today’s often ego-driven madness.
“It really is almost unbelievable,” said Columbus actress Naomi Fleetwood-Pyle.
She plays Louise Seger, a country music fan in Houston, Texas, who by chance actually met Cline at a 1961 performance. And the two bonded so fiercely that they formed a close friendship that spans two years until the singer’s tragic death in a plane crash at age 30 in 1963.
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The story, sometimes touching and often comical, is the centerpiece of Actors Studio of Hope’s dinner theater revival of the musical “Sweet Dreams: A Tribute to Patsy Cline” Aug. 4 and 5 at Willow Leaves of Hope on the historic Hope town square.
The show, originally presented as “Always … Patsy Cline” in Hope, sold out every performance in multiple weekends in 2016. This tweaked production again stars Lisa Barrett in the title role, and features a slightly different collection of 25 to 30 songs. Naturally, the biggest hits such as “Crazy,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Leavin’ On Your Mind” and others remain part of the show.
“Her songs are hard to sing,” Barrett said. “It takes a lot of breath control. But I feel like I definitely know Patsy a little better than I did before.”
Humor is woven throughout the story of admiration and friendship. That includes when Pyle, playing Seger, tells audience members a bit of the tale of how she originally met the singer at the once-famed Esquire Ballroom in Houston. In one true-story twist that probably could never happen in today’s larger-than-life music stardom, Seger convinces Cline to come home with her and spend the night at her house.
When the singer leaves the following day, she keeps in touch with her biggest fan with regularly-penned letters invariably ending with “Always … Patsy Cline.”
Though performances a couple years ago featured a live band, these are presented with musical tracks. But Fleetwood-Pyle guaranteed that few will complain when they hear Barrett’s vocals done as Cline. Pyle said some people who caught the original show at Willow Leaves also had seen a professional version in Nashville, Tennessee, of all places.
And they considered Barrett’s crooning better than the lead performer in Music City.
“Those kind of comments just blow me away,” Barrett said.
It means plenty to the local singer, especially since she has come to love Cline and her sass, boldness and courage back in a day when female vocalists were expected to be sweet as their harmonies and as delicate as their softest song endings.
“She was doing so many things that no one else in country music was doing,” Barrett said.
And she did them in an all-too-short career stretching only six years. Near the end of the show, the Seger character must share with audience the news of Cline’s death that she heard on the radio. Fleetwood-Pyle is so invested in the role even now, after many performances, that her voice cracked and tears welled in her eyes when she recently tried to discuss it.
Crazy? Not exactly.
Adding to the emotion is the close, real-life friendship between Barrett and Fleetwood-Pyle that the two swear the audience can sense.
“For me,” Fleetwood-Pyle said, “this is all such a heartfelt story.”
Truly a sweet, dreamy one.
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What: Dinner theater presentation of the comic musical, “Sweet Dreams: A Tribute to Patsy Cline,” highlighting the friendship between the legendary country singer and fan Louise Seger. Features 25 to 30 of Cline’s tunes.
When: 6 p.m. Aug. 4 and 2 p.m. Aug. 5.
Where: Willow Leaves of Hope on the Hope Town Square.
Cast: Lisa Barrett as Patsy Cline and Naomi Fleetwood Pyle as Cline’s real-life friend Louise Seger of Houston, Texas.
Tickets: $25 each. Includes salad bar, dinner and dessert.
Reservations and information: 812-546-0640.
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