It’s been nearly half a decade since the Roger Bean musical Lana Mae’s Honky Tonk Laundry had its world premiere with the Milwaukee Rep cabaret. The cabaret musical featured a simple story of two women working a Laundromat who have dreams of becoming country western stars. Roger Bean’s humor had a great del of charm to it that delivered a brilliantly idiosyncratic kind of comedy that can only come from a pair of strong femal characters in a country-western Laundromat.
Ted Swindley Productions’ Honky Tonk Angels has a similar charm with a far more traditional story of a group of women from various southern places who all meet on a bus bound for Nashville with dreams of becoming country music stars. The show has seen enough successful productions to have spawned a holiday sequelthe Honky Tonk Angels Christmas Spectacular. Locally, a Racine Theatre Guild production of the show had a hugely successful run this summersuccessful enough to bring the cast back for three encore performances for New Year’s. Robin Walks plays a Texas Housewife on sabbatical. Kate Potter-Barrow plays a career woman with two ex-husbands. Dana Roders plays a woman from a small West-Virginia coal-mining town. The songs included on the show include universally recognizable hits like Stand By Your Man, Coal Miner's Daughter, 9 to 5, and These Boots Are Made for Walkin',
Racine Theatre Guild’s Honky Tonk Angels encore runs December 31st through January 3rd.
