Review: Mellow Memories Follow John Denver's BACK HOME AGAIN at the Stackner

A mellow evening of memories opens Milwaukee Rep's Stackner Cabaret for their 2016-2017 season. Back Home Again: On the Road with John Denver recalls the live and reminiscing of former band member and fellow musician Dan Wheetman. A man who travelled on tour with the acoustic country and folk music singer John Denver for eight years through the 1970s-80's, when John Denver took the songwriting world by storm.

This former Poet Laureate of Colorado often sang of his favorite state where he called Aspen home. The two gifted performers, Katie Deal and David M. Lutken, recreate the beloved singer/songwriter who wrote of his tenderness for nature and sang tributes to America's rugged west in the hit single "Rocky Mountain High."

Aa a musician who garnered Country Music Awards, American Music Awards, Emmy and Grammy Awards, Denver eventually was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986. In The Rep's musical revue written by Randal Myler and Wheetman, and then directed by Myler, personal memories intermingle with the music that made Denver renowned while instilling a nostalgia for those individual mountain highs and lows. Or the songs that Denver wrote and were made famous by other musicians such as Peter, Paul and Mary's recording "Leaving on a Jet Plane."

Combining poetry with lyrical melodies, Denver also wrote several love songs to his wife Annie, who he met at age 22, where Wheetman recalls Denver said became "a moment when she filled me with wonder and has ever since." Deal and Lutken revisit "Annie's Song," along with Wheetman's favorite Denver tune in honor of the the muscian's Uncle Matthew. In these lyrics, Denver speaks again of love, for family and his uncle, "where joy was just a thing he was raised on, and love was just another way to live and die."

Deal's pure, resonate and when needed powerful voice, lingers evocatively in the caberet after each song, while Lutken's homespun delivery and country timbre complement the music and his guitar playing. These sometimes agical moments catch the audience unaware with sophiticated understatement. The audience engages in every musical moment through these performers' retelling of the memories for a warm evening of comforting music, a likeness of the humor uncovered when the two sing "Grandma's Featherbed."

Wheetman's personal life often parrallels Denver's and while the two musicians traveled together they often shared empathy for the rigors of road life and the consequences on their family life. Both musicians shared their children's births, and the lonliness traveling on this road to stardom can bring, and Lutken captures these travails with a honest poignancy.

Denver eventaully sold more records than Elvis Presley, and this tenderhearted revue relives this musical history. One very mature couple in the audience reached over during a Denver love song and smiled at each other, their hands linked together on the cabaret table. The two hour evening was certianly a success, and an enduring tribute to Denver, Deal and Lutken who pass on and keep Denver's Rocky Mountain highs soaring. For a remarkable evening of downhome melodies, revist the 1970's and 80's. Stroll down The Stackner's "Country Road" to those simple thoughts of coming home again and remember John Denver's musical legacy.

The Rep's Stackner Cabaret presents Back Home Again: On the Road with John Denver through November 8. For additonal programming, performance schedule, or tickets, please call 414.224.9490 or www.MilwaukeeRep.com.