This weekend we took R’s parents to The Fireside, a dinner theater about an hour from our house, to see “A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline”. I’d never been to nor really heard about this place, so I didn’t quite know what to expect, but it was outstanding. Your show ticket includes a meal beforehand, and ours consisted of cream of watercress soup and their homemade bread to start; a breaded chicken breast, 3-4 ribs, a steamed veggie medley, and scalloped potatoes for the entree; and panna cotta with berries and a little pecan pie bite for dessert. It had a very supper club-type feel, but the food was delicious.
And the show? Phenomenal. The theater has a very unique floor plan – think of something similar to how a boxing ring is situated, but on a much smaller scale. It’s designed so the stage is in the middle at basically floor-level, with seating on all four sides plus 2 rows of balcony seats. The rows have plenty of leg room, and I think you’d be hard pressed to find a bad seat in the house. It was a layout like I’d never seen, but it worked perfectly. The actors ran to/from the stage from the aisles within the seating area, as well as rising up through the movable floor in the stage itself.
The storyline of the show revolved around an old-time radio dj playing through Patsy Cline’s records, detailing her life as he went. Throughout each segment the actors sang her songs, and the woman who played Patsy herself was amazing. Her voice gave you chills she was that good and that spot-on to Patsy Cline’s voice. I never knew she had such a tragic life, dying at age 30 in a plane crash, just as her career was finally taking off.
If you’ve never been to The Fireside, I highly recommend it. We were definitely some of the youngest there – a number of 40+ year anniversaries and 90+ birthdays were being celebrated – and the whole place has kind of a Branson, MO, vibe (i’ve actually never been there either, but this is kind of how i’d picture it), but the talent they attract is unbelievable and well worth navigating through the sea of bus tours that visit daily. They have a Scrooge Christmas show playing next year that R and I both thought looked really good.
Plus their gift shops aren’t half-bad. I’m definitely not big on gift shop trinkets and junk, but I actually got a beautiful new hummingbird feeder (totally random, yes) and a little something for D. I mean seriously, how could I pass these up??
I usually go to the Fireside once a year with my Mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. It’s always a great time and i’ve loved all of the shows that we’ve seen there. And yes, we usually are the youngest people there, but it’s still a great time!
Chappy was just saying that he wanted to see the Patsy Cline show. I, unfortunately, know nothing about her or her music. Did you know much about her before you went?
I didn’t know much about her life, but I loved her music. My mom used to listen to her a lot, so I already knew almost all of her songs. Ryan’s dad loves Patsy Cline, so he had a great time too, which is always so much fun to see. Even if you aren’t familiar with her, go – it is an absolutely wonderful show. “Patsy’s” voice will blow you away. And I wanted to wear some of her costumes! π