DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997                 TAG: 9704090725

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL  

SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

PLAY PATSY'S MUSIC - MORNING, NOON, NIGHT

If by some wild mischance a radio station fell into my hands, it would thereafter play nothing but Patsy Cline's records, just Patsy morning, noon, and night.

And whenever any station plays Patsy, country or not, my mind drops what it is doing to listen.

Learning the topic of this column, colleague Kathryn Darling exclaimed: ``I loved Patsy Cline before I loved country music!'' And a young smart-alec, idling by, declared: ``I loved Patsy Cline even after I heard country music.''

She transcends tastes, times, ages, climes. The one thing sane about Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign was that he chose as its theme song Patsy's ``Crazy.''

A friend gave me an album of 30 of Patsy's songs one Christmas. Even if I had a machine, I wouldn't know how to play it. But going to baby-sit, I hand the album to the boys' father and say, ``Rig that thing so it will play Patsy's songs end to end and back again all night.''

He does, and an audience - ages 4, 7, and 75 - listens enthralled.

This declaration of adoration is prompted by the news that The Virginia Stage Company will offer a Pay-What-You-Can Preview today at 7 p.m. of ``Always. . . Patsy Cline,'' a musical play at the Wells Theatre on the corner of Monticello Avenue and Tazewell Street in downtown Norfolk.

Photographer Vicki Cronis reports that actress and songstress Jessica Welch, who plays Patsy, has a beautiful voice. Vicki told Jessica she'd like to photograph her singing, whereupon ``she broke into song like a mockingbird. And when she yodels, it's heavenly.''

To hear that yodeling mockingbird one may, tonight, merely pay what one can. A donation of $6 is suggested, but even less will do.

Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Va. She was one of the first country singers to cross to pop charts. At age 30, she died in a plane crash.

The play by Ted Swindley is based on the singer's friendship with a fan, Louise Seger. After a show, the two women talked for hours and continued a rich discourse through letters. Joy Hawkins plays Seger. A six-piece band offers 23 of Patsy's songs.

Born in Pine Bluff, Ark., Jessica talks with a Southern purr. Her grandmother introduced her, when she was 4, to Patsy's songs.

A fan club president in Winchester told her she ``passed the test'' by singing ``Faded Love'' without changing keys in the middle of a range from very low to very high.

Costs of single tickets for public previews on Wednesday and Thursday will be $17 and $22. Prices for the formal opening on Friday will be $27 and $32. Students, teachers, seniors, and military will receive a $3 discount with ID. For information on group rates call 627-6988, Ext. 314.

The play closes April 27. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot

Jessica Welch as Patsy Cline.

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