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The Longmont Theatre Company opened their 2018-2019 season with Today Tomorrow and Forever A Celebration of Patsy Cline on August 17, 2018.
The show runs August 24 & 25 at 7:30 p.m. and August 19 & 26 at 2:00 p.m.
The show stars and is directed by Melissa Swift-Sawyer.
Swift-Sawyer tells the story of the brief career of one of music's most loved female singers, Patsy Cline. In between narratives of Patsy's life, Swift-Sawyer uses her vocal gift to bring back the essence of Patsy's sound by singing a variety of Patsy's songs.
Don't worry Patsy Cline lovers, Swift-Sawyer includes Patsy's best and everyone's favorites.
I was able to attend the Friday, August 17 performance. Swift-Sawyer took the stage and began the same speech she has performed countless times. Although she got ahead of herself and had to begin again, she never lost her energy and even made a joke or two about it throughout the performance. Soon, the audience was captivated by her amazing vocal performance.
This was not a typical play. It was as if the audience were attending a Patsy Cline concert with a biographical narrative sprinkled in. It was fun to learn the history of some of the songs, especially of the ones that were hits and the ones Patsy herself was not fond of.
Swift-Sawyer has played Patsy Cline in Always...Patsy Cline over 2,500 times. She interjected her own journey in that role throughout the play which, I thought, was a new perspective on Patsy Cline.
Long-time Patsy Cline fan, Pat, who opted out of giving her last name, said, "She was great," when asked her thoughts on the performance.
I, myself, loved listening to Swift-Sawyer sing the twangy lyrics of Patsy Cline. Not only did her vocals draw me in and move me to dance, they brought back fond memories of times I spent listening to Patsy Cline while visiting with my grandmother as a young child.
Swift-Sawyer was accompanied by the Boulder Piano Gallery. For the August 17 performance, Rob Lowe tickled the ivories of the piano, Richard Dean strummed the guitar, Tom Broderick played the steel guitar, Ken Robinson provided the deep sounds of the bass and Daniel Dossey kept the beat on the drums.
At several points of the performance, Swift-Sawyer highlighted the talents of these men by making time in the song she was singing to hear each band member's solo. As a whole, the entire group has many heads in the audience bobbing and many toes a tapping.
My only disappointment for the evening was that there was not an area for dancing. That being said, Today Tomorrow and Forever A Celebration of Patsy Cline will have you swaying to the music of one country music's greatest artist.
For more information or for tickets visit, https://longmonttheatre.org/tickets/.
