Cori Cable Kidder, whose star-making performance in Always … Patsy Cline gave Sierra Madre Playhouse one of its biggest hits ever, is back in town as the country music legend in A Patsy Cline Holiday Concert, and that alone is reason for a pre-Christmas celebration.

Kidder once again transforms herself from contemporary blonde bombshell into the brunette Queen Of Country, whose Top Ten hits (“Walking After Midnight,” “I Fall To Pieces,” “Crazy,” and “She’s Got You”) Kidder intersperses with lesser-known but no less catchy album tracks like “Back In Baby’s Arms,” “Lovesick Blue,” “You Belong To Me,” and “Faded Love.”

Also forming part of Kidder-as-Cline’s twenty-five-song set are covers of such country/rock-n-roll smashes as Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” Connie Francis’s “Stupid Cupid,” and Bill Haley & His Comets’ “Shake, Rattle And Roll,” and because this is A Patsy Cline Holiday Concert, the rock-and-roll Christmas classic “Jingle Bell Rock” opens the show.

Along the way, Kidder intersperses another half dozen seasonal favorites ranging from hymns (“Oh Holy Night” and “Silent Night”) to 20th-century standards like “White Christmas” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”

And if this weren’t already enough to make your evening (or Sunday matinee) a special one, Kidder’s spot-on Cline offers up fascinating bits of song trivia along the way. (Did you know that Patsy hated her first big hit, “Walking After Midnight,” the first time she heard it? Or that “Crazy” was going to be titled “Stupid” before Willie Nelson thought better? Or that Patsy’s “How Can I Face Tomorrow Without You” was originally supposed to be a Christmas song?)

Kidder, who’d never played Patsy before Sierra Madre Playhouse called (and ended up a 2015 Ovation Award nominee and Scenie winner for her stunning star turn in Always … Patsy Cline), is once again simply sensational, so much so that you may find yourself believing that Patsy herself has somehow miraculously risen from the dead to once again reward SoCal audiences with her luminous presence.

Back too is ace music director Sean Paxton, tickling the ivories with fellow band returnees Mike Flick on bass, Jim Miller on drums, and Kevin Tiernan on guitar.

Kidder and her band perform on a proscenium stage that’s been decorated with bits and pieces of previous Playhouse set designs (including Orlando de la Paz’s scenic artistry) and lit to vibrant perfection by Derek Jones.

A Patsy Cline Holiday Concert is produced by Gary Lamb. David Peters is sound engineer. Jeanne Marie Valleroy is production stage manager and Sophie Collins is assistant stage manager. Todd McCraw is technical director.

Whether you fell for Cori Cable Kidder as Patsy the back in 2015, or this is your first time seeing her as the Nashville legend, you can expect to find yourself in country music heaven this Christmas season with A Patsy Cline Holiday Concert.

Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre.
www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

–Steven Stanley
November 25, 2022
Photos: Berrie Tseng, Gina Long

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Patsy Cline, Sierra Madre Playhouse