BWW Reviews: DOYLE AND DEBBIE Twang into the Stackner Cabaret's Honky Tonk Heart

Country music, or incredible parodies of the legendary genre, twanged and twittered into the Stackner Cabaret when the Milwaukee Rep opened The Doyle & Debbie Show this September. A rollicking honky tonk evening, this pastiche tribute to county music also lampoons the battle between the sexes, an effortless task when placed into the gifted hands Michael Accardo (Doyle) and Erin Parker (Debbie) accompanied by the indefatigable Bo Johnson (Buddy) on the guitar.

Dressed to knock down the Stackner Cabaret audiences in their seats, the duo's black and cherry red costumes decorated with American flags, fringe, rhinestone hearts and sparkling sequins flaunt the pair's cowboy (or girl) personas. The supposedly-returning-to-Nashville couple attempts to begin the comeback tour of Doyle Mayfield when he recently hired the "third" Debbie in his career. A woman anxious for her singing stage debut as played out in this production's story line, supposedly while the couple left her three children to wait in the car during their show.

Parker's red locks flow over her shoulders while a Daisy Mae neckline attracts attention. She perfectly pairs her rich vocals with Accardo's masculine aplomb in lyrics often only appropriate for mature audiences. The show features 16 original songs, although lines from "Stock Car Love," "Be Still My Heart," and "The ABC's of Love" could be printed in this review, the last clever tune entertains by using just about every acronym in the dictionary: "Your x's and o's are always AWOL/ Too busy to RSVP." After Debbie finishes the song, Doyle responds: "That's a lot of letters."

During the production's intermission, Doyle tackles the whiskey bottle hidden in the powder room's toilet tank and the resulting second act reflects his dalliance with alcohol in an incredibly funny sequence reminiscing his father's death. The pair crescendos the evening by singing, with genuine sincerity, the "Snowbanks of Life,' "Laura Lee," a song about the pleasure of Doyle's yodeling, and an irresistible tune titled "Harlequin Romance."

In The Rep's irreverent tribute to country music and the popular pairings representing the epitome of the genre, June Carter and Johnny Cash or Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, Doyle and Debbie build comic steam from the performance's opening moments straight through the second act under the direction of J.C. Clementz until the humor occasionally boils over the top. The long running 2006 show created by Bruce Arntson delivers the musical goods to the delight of Milwaukee audiences when they enthusiastically applauded the campy, country cultish and cut-from-the- Monty-Python-mold, ninety-minute performance.

Check out a new brand of country music, envisioned through the eyes and voices of The Doyle & Debbie Show, complete with Joe C. Klug's kitschy Tennessee scenic design in the background. In spite of themselves, this gauche couple will win an audience's heart while making their musical comeback appearance when they explain that "they did all they could with what the good Lord gave them." Experience Doyle and Debbie while they romp with Milwaukee instead of Nashville. Laugh with a hearty smile, a Southern twang and a whooping whine as any good county music fan would if they were sitting in the seats at the Grand Ole Opry on comic overload.

The Milwaukee Rep presents The Doyle & Debbie Show at the Stackner Cabaret in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater complex through November 2. For more information or tickets, please call 414.224.9490 or visit: www.MilwaukeeRep.com.