ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE Will Return to Stages St. Louis for 8-Week Engagement in 2014

STAGES ST. LOUIS has announced, after unprecedented demand, Always... Patsy Cline will return to St. Louis April 22 - June 15, 2014 to The Playhouse at Westport Plaza. Always... Patsy Cline was originally produced by STAGES during its record-breaking 27th Season, which resulted in two added performances and record-breaking attendance. Nightly, the audiences stopped the show with thunderous applause for numbers like "Crazy," "Lovesick Blues," and "Your Cheating Heart."

Original stars, Jacqueline Petroccia (Patsy Cline), and Zoe Vonder Haar (Louise Seger), and the original band members (Bodacious Bobcats) will return for this eight week engagement. "Petroccia makes each note sound as if it's lined in dark velvet - which is how practically nobody else, apart from Cline, has ever made them sound," (Judith Newmark, St. Louis Post-Dispatch), "Local legend Zoe Vonder Haar dons a pair of cowboy boots, big hair and Southern accent to embody the fireball Louise, and she is a dynamo onstage." (Lynn Venhaus, Belleville News-Democrat).

"We are ecstatic that we could answer the call of thousands of patrons who continuously asked for the return of Always... Patsy Cline, a show they truly fell in love with," commented Jack Lane, Executive Producer of STAGES.

Always... Patsy Cline celebrates music legend and cross-over sensation Patsy Cline, April 22 - June 15, 2014 at The Playhouse at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights. The touching true story combines humor, heartache and 27 of Patsy's most unforgettable hits, such as "Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight," "Sweet Dreams," and more!

Ted Swindley, creator and original director of Always...Patsy Cline, first produced the show in Houston, Texas in 1988. During the creative process, Swindley came across an interview with Texas housewife and avid Patsy Cline fan, Louise Seger, and was able to establish the local slant he had been searching for and an ultimate direction for the show. Within the interview, he discovered information about countless letters written between Seger and Cline, signed by Cline "Love, Always... Patsy Cline," until the night of her death in 1963. Always... Patsy Cline is told through the heartfelt and hilarious memories of Seger andfocuses on the fateful evening, at Houston's Esquire Ballroom, when Louise hears of Patsy's untimely passing at age thirty. After many regional productions during the early 90s, Always... Patsy Cline made it to Off-Broadway for a successful run in 1997. One of the top 10 most produced shows in twenty years, with performances in the U. S., Australia, the UK and Ireland, Always... Patsy Cline has rarely been produced in the St. Louis region.

Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Henley on September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia. She was known for helping to break down the gender barrier in country music and received her first recording contract in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, Cline joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and successfully "crossed over" to pop music with several of her songs. Cline remains as relevant today as she was exactly fifty years after her passing. Her legacy as one of the greatest singers of all time continues to resonate among audiences of all ages.In 2005 her album, Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits, was listed as the Longest-Charting Title by a Female Artist in the Guinness Book of World Records, with over 10 million records sold.

Jacqueline Petroccia returns to star as Patsy Cline. Petroccia has portrayed the role of Cline in four previous productions, one of which earned her a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance and a Broadway World Nomination for Best Leading Actress. Other Credits include Carousel with NY Philharmonic (filmed for PBS), the National Tour of The Producers and the starring role in the new musical comedy, The Life of a Mob Wife.

St. Louis actress Zoe Vonder Haar returns to co-star as Louise Seger. Vonder Haar has performed in over sixty productions at STAGES including: Hello, Dolly!, Gypsy, Mame and A Chorus Line. Other credits include the First International Touring Company of A Chorus Line and numerous productions at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and the Muny.

Direction and musical staging are by STAGES ST. LOUIS Artistic Director Michael Hamilton with musical supervision by Lisa Campbell Albert. Completing the creative team are Scenic Designer James Wolk, Costume Designer Lou Bird and Lighting Designer Matthew McCarthy.

Single tickets are on sale December 12, 2013 and start at $50. STAGES performs in the intimate, 240-seat Playhouse at Westport Plaza, 635 Westport Plaza, Maryland Heights, MO 63146. For more information or to purchase tickets call 314-821-2407 or visit www.stagesstlouis.org.

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