ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE Returns to STAGES St. Louis 4/22

STAGES St. Louis will welcome back to the stage, after unprecedented demand, Always... Patsy Cline, beginning April 22, 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 historic 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), return to their award-winning roles, along with the original band members (Bodacious Bobcats) 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 has the potential to bring in over 13,000 patrons and impact the Maryland Heights economy by upwards of $300,000 - $500,000, during its initial eight week run. Sixty-nine percent of STAGES audiences dine out before attending an event. Additionally, the production will also aid in providing a healthy financial foundation for the organization.

"The Maryland Heights Convention and Visitors Bureau is excited to welcome STAGES St. Louis and Always... Patsy Cline to the Playhouse at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights. As a hospitality destination for the leisure visitor, we are thrilled to promote STAGES St. Louis with all the great entertainment and attractions in the area," said Karen Krispin, Executive Director, Maryland Heights Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Always... Patsy Cline is based on the touching true story of Country music legend Patsy Cline and her friendship with Texas housewife Louise Seger. Combining down home country humor, and 27 of Cline's most unforgettable hits, such as "Crazy," "Walkin' After Midnight," "Sweet Dreams," and more! Always... Patsy Cline endures as a piece of genuine Americana.

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 and focuses 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 Patsy Cline in four previous productions, one of which earned her a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance, and her STAGES performance earned her a "Best Actress" in a Musical Award from BroadwayWorld.com. Other Credits include Carousel and Sweeney Todd 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 star as Louise Seger. Vonder Haar received the 2013 "Best Actress" in a Musical "Judy Award" from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Theatre Circle Award, for the role of Louise. She 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.

Ted Swindley (Author and Original Director) has directed and/or produced over 200 plays for over 20 years. Some of his outstanding directorial credits include world premieres, classics and musicals including, Carnal Knowledge, Pacific Overtures, Follies and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, along with rotating repertory projects such as Havel's The Memorandum with Giradoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot, Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with The Importance of Being Earnest. Ted was named to Esquire magazine's register of Americans for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Letters, and was featured in Southern Living Magazine. In 2007 he was a keynote speaker at the Southwestern Theatre Conference. He was also the recipient of the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for outstanding direction and nominated for the Los Angeles Critics Award for his work at the Pasadena Playhouse. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Stages Repertory Theatre, the second largest theatre in Houston, Texas. There he implemented such diverse programming as the Texas Playwrights Festival, for which he won national recognition in 1986 from the Wall Street Journal and Backstage Magazine. Best known for creating the hit musical, Always... Patsy Cline, which was one of the top ten shows produced across the country in 1998, he has also directed in over 60 theatres. The Honky Tonk Angels is his latest hit, and he has completed the trilogy with The Honky Tonk Angels Holiday Spectacular and Bubba's Revenge, (which can all be done independently of each other). He has just recently premiered his latest work, Bachelor Pad in New York City, and completed a Southern adaption of The Importance of Being Ernest, entitled The Importance of Bein' Earnest, and a play, Stories My Grandmother Told Me, which had its premiere in Kansas City, MO, January 2008. He is an active member of the Dramatists Guild and The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, and is a member of the Playwrights/Directors Workshop at the famed Actors Studio in New York City.

Single tickets are on sale now and start at $50. STAGES Westport 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.