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Always…Patsy Cline at Georgia Ensemble Theatre
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
More like “Always … Jill Jane Clements.�
The veteran Atlanta actress doesn’t have the title role — Denise Hillis plays country star Patsy Cline — but as Louise Seger, the die-hard fan who becomes a friend, Clements is the one you can’t take your eyes off. Whether she’s sitting at the kitchen table in a white, terry cloth robe and black cat-eye glasses, bouncing along to a song on the radio or cavorting across the stage in one yellow-and-black cowgirl outfit after another, Clements steals every scene she’s in.
So it’s good that she’s in most of them.
Playing out on a three-level set framed by a red-barn backdrop, “Always, Patsy Cline� by Ted Swindley (directed here by Hillis’ husband, Chuck Tedder) is not so much a play as a revue of the country icon’s hits. If you’re a fan, you’ll be delighted to hear Hillis have her sparkly eyed way with such melancholy classics as “I Fall to Pieces,� “Sweet Dreams� and “Walkin’ After Midnight.�
When she first takes the stage singing “Back in Baby’s Arms,� it’s clear Hillis has got the caramelly Cline tone down pat (though she doesn’t swing as much). And with her dark curls and fringed satin get-ups, she does an admirable job impersonating Patsy, whose hit-filled life was cut short by a 1963 plane crash.
But for anyone who likes a little bio in their musical bio plays, a night of good music doesn’t seem quite enough — especially in a year that’s boasted two extraordinary examples of plays that got that musical-bio balance right. Both “Hank Williams: Lost Highwayâ€? at the Balzer Theater in May (also graced by Clements, as Mama Lilly) and “Mahaliaâ€? at Theatre in the Square in August used the music of their legendary subjects to explore facets of their lives.
If you come to this play not knowing much about Cline the person, you’ll leave that way — it doesn’t tell you a thing but that she was down-to-earth and friendly, and that’s not quite enough to hang a whole play on.
But Clements as Louise is enough to hang a whole night on.
Watch her imitate her boyfriend and her boss — who she makes you actually see — or ham it up onstage, conducting the Bodacious Bobcats house band with a drumstick on “Your Cheatin’ Heart.â€? Check out the way she turns something simple like the pantomime of driving a car into a sinuously hilarious line dance, powered by a steady drumbeat and her complete absorption. “I tool real good,â€? she confides to the audience, which gets a kick out of the shtick every time.
Clements shows that even with the skimpiest of parts, a real pro can create the ultimate theatrical illusion — that a particular character is real enough to believe — and remember.
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