Review: HONKY TONK ANGELS Sing a New-Ish Song at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre

Ever heard the joke about how you know you're old when the songs of your childhood get played in grocery stores? As a lifelong Westmoreland County resident, I've long been a fan of Saint Vincent Summer Theatre. They're a classic summer stock company in an era when such things have been mostly forgotten. Tied into this is a focus on nostalgic entertainment that aims more for comfort and familiarity than anything new or cutting edge, which goes hand in hand with the company's typically older audience base. We've seen old-school farces mixed with musical revues leaning towards the 1930s-early 1960s periods, the heyday of the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers... two generations who are now beginning to dwindle. How, then, to feed the nostalgia of the younger Boomers and the older Gen X, who now become the primary theatre seat-fillers across America's smaller regional companies? Perhaps, as Honky Tonk Angels suggests, you just update a formula that already works. 

Ted Swindley's Honky Tonk Angels, directed by Greggory Brandt and choreographed by Nicole Rae Jones, works more or less the same as Forever Plaid or The Marvelous Wonderettes: introduce us to a few talented lovable-loser types and then show us how singing the music they love helps them self-actualize and become true friends. In keeping with this newer school of nostalgia, the setting of this tuner jumps us from the early sixties of those two shows up to the early nineties instead, with teased hair, cordless phones and winking references to Madonna and Pamela Anderson. Angela (Sarah Chelli) is an underappreciated housewife, Sue Ellen (Madeline Grace Smith) is a sexually harassed, twice-divorced businesswoman, and Darlene (Leah Prestogeorge) is a conservative rural girl from a mining town. All three run away from their lives to sing in a Nashville club on the same day, and when a chance meeting brings them together on the train to Music City, they form a trio together. But when good girl Darlene starts to take offense at the racier implications of the "honky tonk angel" image and lifestyle, can Angela and Sue Ellen clean up the act enough to keep the trio together for one more night?

Here comes my confession: in the church of country music, I will ALWAYS be a doubting Thomas; if it doesn't come from the Laurel Canyon or have a Stapleton or a Musgraves attached to it, I have almost no interest. But you don't have to be a country fan to be a fan of these three wonderful women and the work they're doing. Madeline Grace Smith's Sue Ellen channels every eighties "working woman" archetype into her tightly-wound persona, making it a relief to see her loosen up and get goofy in Act 2. Stuck on roller skates she can only barely control, singing "Cornell Crawford," Smith finds the humor in the straight-woman role, especially opposite Sarah Chelli's Angela. Newcomers to Saint Vincent may initially be confused as to why such a young, petite performer as Chelli is cast in a role that repeatedly suggests more of a Roseanne Barr type... well, just wait for Act 2. Company regulars will recognize Chelli as a gifted and fearless sketch comedy performer, who loves stepping into roles that border on the grotesque. When Chelli's character skills are unleashed in Act 2 as an aging B-52s style hoochie-mama and a rough-talking, fist-shaking battleaxe, you'll forget every preconceived notion you had. 

In between these two funny ladies is Leah Prestogeorge, playing the straight-woman role as Darlene. It's a delicate role, expected to carry all the show's drama and most heartfelt moments. Darlene is the sort of character you'd expect to be the butt of jokes, the innocent and under-educated rural girl who is simple but not slow. Instead, Prestogeorge fills her with a quiet grace and innocence, even dignity, that contrast with the character's humble background. Prestogeorge doesn't get the same comedic showcases the other two get, but is given many of the most affecting ballads; the way she sings "Ode to Billy Joe" or "Angels Among Us" will make believers out of the staunchest doubters (yes, even me). When the three Angels harmonize together, those with good ears for music will note that they swap parts and lines, rather than having one who constantly sings the high and another to sing the low. This is harder than you'd think, and points not only to the talent of our three stars but to the diligence of music directer Tom McDonough and his country band, fiddle and all.

The song stack, as hinted above, is that of Nashville-era country from the late sixties to the very early nineties (Pam Tillis's "Cleopatra" being the newest song I clocked). I was a little too young to remember the country revival of the era well, so line dancing, Patrick Swayze and Dallas have always registered more as Simpsons or SNL punchlines than as actual cultural moments. But just because I'm not the target audience, doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the show or that it isn't exactly what the audience here in Westmoreland County will flock to; if I may shock Darlene's virgin ears, I had a hell of a good time and heard some damn fine singing at the Summer Theatre, and look forward to the inevitable new wave and alternative tribute show in a few years. 

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