HONKY TONK ANGELS

Nashville Dreams

At: The Swift Creek Mill Theatre, 17401 U.S. Route One, Chesterfield, VA 23834

Performances: November 16 – December 28, 2024

Ticket Prices: $44-49. Ask about discounts for students, seniors, and veterans.

Info: (804) 748-5203 or https://www.swiftcreekmill.com

Written by Ted Swindley, who also gave us Always…Patsy Cline (1988), Honky Tonk Angels (2002) is a heart-warming and amusing musical about a trio of  aspiring female country singers. Swift Creek Mill last produced this show 11 years ago, with Robyn O’Neill, Debra Wagoner, and Robin Arthur who are credited in the current program as Angels Emerita. 

The current cast consists of three talented women who are all making their Swift Creek Mill Theatre debut. Kimberly Strother an afternoon host for a local NPR affiliate radio station, has the role of Angela Bodine, a Texas homemaker with six kids, a philandering husband, a love for comedian Roseanne Barr, a penchant for seeing the brighter side of things, and a need to claim her identity before it’s gone forever.

Chelsea Shaul, a recent graduate of Randolph Macon College with a degree in Theatre and Psychology, is making her professional debut as Darlene Purvis , a beautiful and innocent young woman who lives with her widowed father in a West Virginia coal mining town. She has a guitar and no prospects, since her boyfriend, Billy Joe McAllister, jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Savanah Ragland, a Chesterfield County Public Schools employee, fills out the cast as Sue Ellen Smith Barney Fife, a twice divorced, Texas-born, Los Angeles-based secretary to a “hands-on” boss. She has unfinished business and unfulfilled dreams.

The lives of the three women intersect on a Greyhound bus as the three independently start their journeys to Nashville and stardom. The fun begins on the bus as Sue Ellen feigns disinterest, Darlene oozes naiveté, and Sue Ellen plies everyone with a seemingly endless supply of baloney sandwiches. The scene concludes with Sue Ellen celebrating the newly united trio with a shower of pork rind confetti.

Act Two is pretty much a farewell concert as the newly christened Honky Tonk Angels conclude a successful six-week run at a Nashville venue, the appropriately named, Honky Tonk Heaven. The two-act musical is filled with approximately thirty songs, many of them familiar, such as “Stand By Your Man,” Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You,” Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode to Billie Joe,” and more.

A highlight, for me, was Kimberly Strother’s campy rendition of “Harper Valley PTA” in Act Two. Near the top of Act One, Savanah Ragland angrily sang her way through “Stand By Your Man” as her character, Sue Ellen, resolved to claim her independence, while Chelsea Shaul (Darlene) reveals what it was that she and Billie Joe threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. All three of the Angels proved entertaining with song-related backstories and endearing qualities expressed through both familiar and novelty songs, for the most part beautifully rendered, both individually and together.

Audience engagement was apparent – and encouraged – with sporadic periods of handclapping and a few moments when the cast invited audience participation, but there weren’t many takers, at least not on opening night. This may be part of the reason why it seemed that, while the second act featured a more cohesive set and multiple costume changes, I thought the strongest performances occurred in the first act.

Act Two seemed to run out of steam before they ran out of songs to sing. This was even reflected in the script as the Angels attempted to change their song repertoire and their style to reflect a more conservative image. Darlene’s femme fatale number, “Help Me Make It Through the Night” didn’t quite seem to convey the required depth of feeling and the collaborative “Cleopatra: Queen of Denial” somehow fell short of humor or parody but instead took an unexpected turn and drifted towards the shore of the murky sea of offensiveness.

Honky Tonk Angels is mostly fluff. It makes us feel confident that we all know more country music than we ever thought we knew. It’s a feel-good musical, with a paper-thin plot that serves as a vehicle to deliver the songs. It doesn’t require us to focus on the twists and turns of a plot or the nuances of the acting or to remember significant details that might be necessary to understand the denouement later on. With this in mind, go, have a no-stress good time – and don’t forget to sing along when asked.

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Julinda D. Lewis, EdD is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County. When not writing about theater and dance, she teaches dance history at VCU and low impact dance fitness classes to seasoned movers like herself, and occasionally performs. Her most recent (ad)venture was the premiere of a solo work, The Waters of Babylon or Psalm 137 Revisited: a Post-Exodus Reflection in Movement Choreographed From Collective Memories for the debut of the Critical Race Theatre Project.

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HONKY TONK ANGELS

By Ted Swindley

Directed by Tom Width

CAST

Kimberly Strother as Angela

Chelsea Shaul as Darlene

Savanah Ragland as Sue Ellen

ORCHESTRA

Piano/Conductor…Paul Deiss

Guitar………………Ed Drake

Fiddle………………Drew Perkins

Bass…………………Sheri Oyan

Drums………………Julie Fulcher-Davis

CREATIVE TEAM

Directed by Tom With

Musical Direction by Paul Deiss

Scenic Design by Tom Width

Lighting Design by Joe Doran

Costume Design by Maura Lynch Cravey

Technical Direction by James Nicholas

Setting:

Act One: Los Angeles, CA; Waxahatchie, TX; somewhere in the Mississippi Delta; and a Greyhound bus.

Act Two: Honky Tonk Heaven in Nashville, TN

Run Time:

About 2 hours with 1 intermission

Tickets:

Regular $44-49. Discounts for Seniors, Military & Veterans

Photographer: Darryl Morgan