Iconic country music celebrated in new show at Schoolhouse Theatre
ST. JACOBS — The Schoolhouse Theatre in the village of St. Jacobs might have the smallest stage in the region, but that hasn’t stopped Drayton Productions from putting on one of its biggest shows.
“Kings & Queens of Country” opened Friday night, eight shows a week until Dec. 24 and even if you’re not a fan of country music, this show will delight and inspire.
First off, the three-piece band — music director Steve Thomas as well as Earl Filsinger and Kevin Dempsey — are all remarkable musicians. Their music is augmented by the three male cast members, multi-instrumentalists Al Braatz, Tyler Check and Michael Cox.
The female singers, the sweet voiced Julia McLellan and — new to the Drayton stage — the sensational Kelly Holiff round out this wonderful cast.
As the title suggests, the production celebrates some of the greatest country singers in history and songs that have become iconic.
As Drayton’s artistic director, Alex Mustakas, who created and wrote the show, said in his opening remarks, the thing about country music is “its great storytelling. It’s the kind of music that makes you happy.”
He is so right. The music was created to make your lovesick heart go pitter patter, to make you tear up or laugh.
With so much music to cover, the show really only touches on each of more than 100 songs performed, just enough to get a taste of the music. The exhaustive list includes Johnny Cash, Statler Brothers, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, John Denver, Ray Price, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline, Roger Miller, Ray Stevens and Merle Haggard to name a few.
Every genre is included: old time country, contemporary country, bluegrass, country gospel and waltz.
Holiff sings most of Dolly Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You.” Her extraordinary vocals and multiple octave range had the audience cheering wildly. This girl can sing and her face is so expressive, she makes you feel her music and when she yodelled in Patsy Montana’s “I Want to be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” her vocal control was perfect.
All the other cast members are familiar to Drayton audiences and they are regulars because they are all talented. The energy level on the stage was, at times frantic and there is a lot going on, almost dizzying but always controlled.
Check’s medley of Glen Campbell songs was beautiful. Cox’s rendition of Canadian country star Hank Snow’s “I’ve Been Everywhere” was flawless — which isn’t easy to do given he has to rhyme off one city name after the other in rapid succession. The song has also been altered to include Canadian place names.
Of course country music shows always have a dash of humour.
Think of Minnie Pearl and Grandpa Jones. Both make an appearance in this show portrayed by J. Sean Elliot who takes goofy to a whole new level.
Elliot has a certain gangly, down-home charm so that even the corniest of jokes — and there are several — are giggle-worthy. Word of warning: Don’t sit in the front row if you’re the shy type. You might end up Elliot’s dance partner.
Given the small stage, set designer Simon Day kept it simple, mostly barn-like walls with a country cottage facade on either side of the stage where the performers exit between songs and for costume changes.
Costume designer, Jessica Pembleton, has also done an outstanding job creating outfits that fit the songs without going overboard with glitter and glam.