It was a little creepy how much Laurie Daniels Finnegan resembled and sounded like country music legend Patsy Cline.
Her performance in "A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline" was a touching tribute to the singer's career. The play, put on by the Albuquerque Little Theatre, was so popular that it held two extra showings before being put to bed and was the number one seller in the theater's history.
The sold-out show featured Finnegan, who teaches acting in the UNM Theatre and Dance Department, as the audacious Cline, who first graced the country music scene at the age of 14 and kept blowing up the charts until her death in 1963.
The play centered around a radio showcase of Cline in Winchester, Va., on the eve of the plane crash that would take her life. Radio personality Little Big Man, played by Robert Johnson, guided the audience through his memories of Cline in a concert format.
His first memory presented Cline when she was still a naãve teenager making her radio debut singing the Hank Williams tune, "Your Cheatin' Heart."
Within seconds of her first song, Finnegan captured the rough grace and eagerness that would eventually propel Cline to stardom.
Little Big Man led the audience through Cline's rise in the country/western music industry, from the recording studio to the Grand Ole `Opry.
Finnegan shined in her portrayal of Cline reluctantly recording her first crossover and country radio hit, "Walkin' After Midnight." Cline hated the song, spitefully dubbing it "nothing but a little ol' pop tune" and announced it would never sell. The song shot to the top of the charts within weeks.
The play included some of Cline's famous hits, such as "Faded Love" and "Crazy," but they weren't the true winners of the show. The honky tonk songs Cline performed in bars and clubs during her rise to fame and the title song, "Just a Closer Walk With Thee," gave the play its vibrant truth.
Cline, who was born Virginia Hensley in 1932 in Gore, Va., was down-home country and never thought to hide it. Her view of life was simple, tragic and beautiful. She sang about "lovin'" and "hurtin'" because that was what she knew. Songs featured during the play, such as "Life's Railway to Heaven," "Bill Bailey" and "Lovesick Blues," displayed Cline's heart and soul.
"A Closer Walk" also hinted tactfully at Cline's personal life and inner turmoil. She had two rocky marriages, the first leading to divorce and the second cut short by her death. During the scene when Cline waits for her second husband, Charlie Dick, to pick her up after a performance at the Grand Ole `Opry led to a cheerful rendition of "I Don't Wanta," but it slowed to a sad and abrupt halt as she asked her backup singers, "Charlie isn't coming, is he?"
Leading straight into one of her last hits, "Leavin' On Your Mind," the scene's musical undertones captured the dichotomy of Cline's realized dreams and broken hopes.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Ending with Cline's untimely death that night during the radio broadcast, Finnegan came out in a simple spotlight and sang "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" for a second time.
The song - full of hope, strength and sadness - had an honesty that captured the soul of country gal' Virginia Hensley and the legendary Patsy Cline.
