“I’m gonna be something one of these days,” said Patsy Cline before her career soared into the mainstream.
Just as her stardom was at its brightest, the world lost this beloved country music icon in a tragic plane crash, March 5, 1963.
Many believed it was the day the music died.
More than 50 years after Cline’s death, her legacy lives on with the award-winning production, A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline.
Written by Vancouver’s Dean Regan, Kamloops’ Western Canada Theatre and Ganaoque, Ont.’s Thousand Islands Playhouse is bringing the beloved production to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
The play is currently having a successful run for Western Canada at the Sagebrush Theatre in Kamloops.
Considered one of the most influential and acclaimed vocal artists worldwide, Cline made an impression on the music industry in bringing a strong female voice to the scene. Her success was highlighted when she was the first woman to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall and also the first female to headline her own show in the glaring lights of Las Vegas.
A Closer Walk follows the legendary country and western music sensation as she climbs to stardom from small town Virginia to Carnegie Hall.
Some of the 22 classic songs featured in A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline include Walkin’ After Midnight, Sweet Dreams and Crazy.
Taking on the voice and persona of Cline is Alison MacDonald, who has acted in a number of Thousand Island Playhouse productions. She will be accompanied by a four-piece band, consisting of Kamloops musicians’ Richard Graham on percussion, Michael Turner on standup bass and Kris Ruston on bass and guitar, with music director David Archibald from Newburgh, Ont playing guitar, banjo and keys.
Tyler Murree stars as Little Big Man, a radio host in Cline’s hometown of Winchester, Va. who acts as narrator. Murree also plays various hosts who introduce Cline at venues such as The Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall and a Vegas theatre.
A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline made its world premiere at the Arts Club Theatre in Vancouver in 1991 before it toured across Canada. It played for nine months at the Playhouse Theatre in Boston, Mass. and has toured the U.S. twice.
It has been produced more than 150 times across North America.
It is also one of only two plays ever approved by the Patsy Cline Estate.
A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline is the final show in the Vernon Performing Arts society’s 2015/16 theatre series. Tickets are $45/adult, $42/senior and $40/student at the Ticket Seller box office, 549-SHOW (7469), ticketseller.ca.