STAGE REVIEW
'Patsy' actress shines in uninspired production

By Joseph Rozmiarek
Advertiser Theater Critic

Zenia Zambrano as country icon Patsy Cline sings at Tootsie's bar with her backup boys, the Jordinaires. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser . . . 'A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline' • 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Sept. 22 • Manoa Valley Theatre • $30; 988-6131

"A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline" is essentially a one-woman show, or, more closely, an impersonation of one of America's favorite country and popular music crossover stars of the late '50s and early '60s.

The show by Dean Regan is a straightforward collection of Patsy Cline hit songs connected by uninspired biographical narrative. There's a live band and some back-up singers that take turns at stand-up comedy, but to recommend the production to anybody other than a die-hard fan of country music would be a disservice.

With one big exception.

Zenia Zambrano is awfully good in the title role.

She nicely conjures up the Patsy Cline voice, comfortably pitching it about an octave below expectation, and captures the modulated vocal attack that fades in and out of notes in a unique style that, were it more exaggerated, could become a yodel.

It's a warm, embracing, approachable voice, calling up images of sugar-cured ham and fresh butter melting over homemade biscuits. Despite its distinctiveness, it resonates genuinely and is devoid of over-calculation.

Zambrano also gets points for stamina, pumping out nearly two dozen solos without a hint of fatigue, and an honorable mention for creating something of a persona beneath the music — in a figure that was not written to be a real character or to fit into a story line.

Except for that undeniably warm center, the production is a difficult package.

It hardly takes three numbers before the show's format becomes painfully repetitious: song, narrative, song, narrative and so on. The halting format keeps the show from picking up speed and gives information without creating theatrical life. A half-hearted invitation for the audience to get up and dance is never more than a moment of staged spontaneity.

Costumes for Cline by Athena Espania and minimal backdrops by Karen Archibald add some variety as they illustrate Cline's career from radio shows and sleazy bars to Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Las Vegas' showrooms, and finally New York's Carnegie Hall.

While Zambrano carries the production vocally, musical bridges between verses are awkward and the staging is visually static and uninspired. There simply isn't much to look at in the production, which is never able to shake the radio program straightjacket of its early scenes.

The show picks up momentum toward the finale, with a string of popular hits in quick succession without narration: "I Fall to Pieces," "Bill Bailey" and "Crazy."

A strong exception to the show's visual poverty happens in the final number following the announcement of Cline's death in an airplane crash. Zambrano reprises "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" from offstage while a single spotlight highlights a vacant microphone stand. It's a powerful bit of visual drama that emphasizes what's been lacking up to that point.

Mark Minasian directs the music, Jim Hutchison handles the staging, and the cowboy chorus is filled out by Gordon Ing, Scott Moura, Sean Moulson, Eric Richards and Lance Bateman.

Zambrano is good in the title role. But despite the effort, you could get as close to Patsy Cline by listening to one of her recordings.