BWW Reviews: Honky Tonk Angels Holiday Spectacular Kicks Off Christmas Season at Swift Creek Mill Theatre
Tis the season to get schmaltzy! Yes, Halloween has passed. All the stores and at least one local radio station are in full-fledged Christmas mode, so it must be time to bring on the holiday theatrical productions.
The first entry this year is Swift Creek Mill Theatre's The Honky Tonk Angels Holiday Spectacular. Now, if you're like me and never saw the original Honk Tonk Angels- fear not; you will be apprised of the plot summary in the first 5 minutes. In the first show, three women meet on a bus to Nashville and end up forming a country singing group.
In this sequel, the Angels are reuniting for a Holiday Spectacular. It is a County Christmas Cabaret fit for the Grand Ole Opry.
The plot is simple and is only there to provide transitions between songs. Two of the original Angel's, Sue Ellen Smith Barney Fife (Robin Arthur) and Darlene Purvis (Debra Wagoner) are joined by Motown Singer/'Psychic Charilee Chess (Katrinah Carol Lewis- whose ability to roll her eyes in the back of her head during a "psychic trance" is worth the price of admission in itself) when Angela Bodine (Robyn O'Neill) can't make it due to "illness" (she is pregnant with twins, but eventually shows up).
There is fog and strobe lights and Elvis and audience participation...and even a singing/ dancing squirrel in a box. Joe Doran's lighting design dazzles with Christmas colors bouncing off tinsel curtains and Maura Lynch Cravey's glitzy costumes.
But the highlight of the show is the beautiful angelic singing of the Angels (especially when singing in harmony). The songs run the gamut from Christmas to country to Elvis to Lousie Armstrong. While some of the ballads are the musical highlights; a string of slow songs towards the end of Act 2 does seem to bring the energy of the otherwise upbeat show down.
It must be noted that Director Tom Width and Musical Director Paul Deiss actually helped create the musical with it's original staging at Swift Creek Mill with author Tom Swindley back in 2002.
If you enjoy country music...if you enjoy Christmas music....you will enjoy The Honky Tonk Angels Holiday Spectacular. Playing thru January 10, 2015. www.swiftcreekmill.com.
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