"Always...Patsy Cline" opens Thursday night

With 27 songs, a live band, quick pace, audience participation and a larger-than-life cast, "Always…Patsy Cline" is a theatrical tribute to music legend Patsy Cline.

Director Jim Anderson has taken on the impressive task of bringing these aspects together in a University Showcase performance, open to the public this month and next.

As a little boy, Anderson had the chance to meet Patsy Cline at the Big D Jamboree, and she made a big impression on him. Last year he directed "Hank Williams Lost Highway" and discovered there was an audience to see a theatrical play with country entertainment.

"If you don't like country music, most people do like a tender, heart-warming story, a feel-good story, and that is exactly what ‘Always…Patsy Cline' is," Anderson said.

In the play, Patsy Cline comes to Houston and meets a woman name Louise Segar, a big fan of her music. Segar becomes good friends with Cline at the concert, and they become pen pals. The play details their relationship with each other through the exchange of letters and telephone calls.

Samantha Grace, who plays Segar, said it has been a lot of fun trying to discover who her character is.

"She's kind of broad where a broad should be broad, in all aspects of the word," Grace said. "Louise, in a word, is like Texas. She's big, she's out there, and she commands the stage and audience."

Former Texas A&M University-Commerce alumna LouAnn Petty plays Cline. Although Petty does not claim to be a Patsy Cline impersonator, in an interview with President Dan Jones on "The President's Table," she said she has been listening to recordings and watching performances of Cline over the years to prepare for the role.

"I hope to be able to capture some of the nuances, the way she holds herself and the way she pronounces words and that sort of thing," Petty said. "It's going to be a lot of fun just to sing all those songs that are timeless and classics. I don't think there's one in there that people won't recognize."

According to Anderson, Cline was the first true cross-over artist, and she was recognized in her time as much a pop singer as a country artist. Cline began her musical career on a nationally televised talent show much like American Idol today.

"She launched careers of people like Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, and she recorded some of the best American music ever," Anderson said.

All the players in this show are local musicians: including piano, keyboards, fiddle, steel guitar, electric guitar, bass and drums.

"Ted Swinley [the playwright] has done a really good job integrating the music with the story," Anderson said. "Having high quality actors is really a blessing."

Performances are Feb. 25-27 and March 4-6 at 8 p.m., with 3 p.m. matinee shows Feb. 28 and March 7. After the March 7 show, playgoers can enjoy beverages, hors d'oeuvres and a concert with Grammy winning artists and local singers and songwriters. The last matinee and gala performance's proceeds benefit the Ray Price Texas Culture Scholarship.

"I can't imagine anyone attending the play and leaving the theater without a smile on their face," Anderson said.

For ticket information or reservations call the University Playhouse box office at 903-886-5900 or e-mail playhouseboxoffice@tamu-commerce.edu.