Whenever a song by influential country singer Patsy Cline comes on, Melissa Young is transported back in time.
As a child, she remembers pulling out her grandparentsB次元官网网址� records and using a wooden spoon as a microphone to belt out some of ClineB次元官网网址檚 country-pop hits.
B次元官网网址淲hen I listen to her [Patsy] sing it brings back those memories. I think that Patsy was revolutionary. She was such a strong woman who worked so hard to achieve this dream of being a singer. She really paved the way for so many female artists,B次元官网网址� said Young, who runs the theatre program at Royal Bay Secondary school.
B次元官网网址淗er music speaks to a lot of people. I think people have memories and strong associations, like I do, with her music.B次元官网网址�
Young is bringing her love of the influential country singer to the West Shore this month as the director of A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline.
The highly-acclaimed musical chronicles ClineB次元官网网址檚 rise to stardom, from her hometown in Virginia to Carnegie Hall in New York, and features some of her greatest hits, including I Fall to Pieces, Walking After Midnight and Crazy. Cline died when she was 30 years old in a multiple-fatality plane crash.
The production, presented by Little BowesB次元官网网址� Street Collective, stars Alison MacDonald as Patsy and Leon Willey as a radio station worker who pays tribute to the singer, as well as musical direction from Alana Johnson. It has been performed in a number of theatres around the province and Ontario.
MacDonald was drawn to ClineB次元官网网址檚 music and has fallen in love with her in the past year-and-half that sheB次元官网网址檚 been portraying her.
B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 a really ballsy woman. She was a woman in the 1950s, 1960s making it in a manB次元官网网址檚 world and she got super far. SheB次元官网网址檚 got a real backbone and integrity,B次元官网网址� she said of Cline, adding you donB次元官网网址檛 have to be a fan of country to enjoy the musical.
B次元官网网址淚 hope the audience takes away a bit of knowledge about Patsy and what she did in her life, how she started from nothing and her career took off all on her own, and an appreciation for the music.B次元官网网址�
In addition to the performance, MacDonald and Willey will be doing guest workshops with some of YoungB次元官网网址檚 students to give them a sense of professional theatre.
A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline runs Oct. 20 and 21 at the Teechamitsa Theatre (3500 Ryder Hesjedal Way), beginning at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $17 for students.
The musical will also make its way to the Canadian Collage of Performing Arts (1701 Elgin Rd.) in Victoria for performances on Oct. 27 and 28 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 28 and 29 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $21 for students.
For tickets, visit or call 1-855-842-7575.
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