Patsy
Cline's nuances continue to excite
actress who plays her in musical
By Bruce Miller
Kaija Bonde may not fall to pieces every time she hears a Patsy Cline tune,
but she does take time to listen.
After playing the country legend for more than two years, she's aware of
every breath, every nuance of the woman's voice and, she says, "I never
fail to pick up something new."
Starring in "Always...Patsy Cline," a tribute to the performer
and her friendship with a fan, Bonde is well aware of Patsy's strengths.
"Any female who enjoys singing has admiration for her," she says.
"She was an incredible singer and nobody has been able to duplicate her
voice."
Of course, that hasn't stopped Bonde from trying. In the show, which also
features the Poker Alice Band, Bonde sings more than 20 Cline hits. The most
difficult? "Crazy," of course. "The expectations are so
high," Bonde explains. "People really want it to sound exactly like
her."
To come as close as possible, the wife and mother of three listens to Cline
while she's in the car. "She doesn't sing on the beat," she says,
"so there's always something to listen for."
To approximate Cline's look, Bonde scoured vintage clothing stores. Because
she makes some 15 changes during the production, she's always on the lookout
for new dresses. Among them: Ones worn by Lorna Herseth, the former first lady
of South Dakota.
"I had a ball getting the clothes," Bonde says.
She enjoyed finding props, too. While looking for pieces she could use in
the production, she frequently heard Patsy Cline songs playing in the stores.
"I took it as a sign that I should buy the things I was looking at,"
she says with a laugh. "It was the strangest thing. It happened three or
four times."
Although Bonde, whose husband Brian directs the show, was a Cline admirer
while she was in college, she didn't really get the bug until four or five
years ago. The couple, who are active in Sioux Falls, S.D., theater
productions, saw a version of "Always...Patsy Cline" in Chicago and
were smitten. "This could be our next show," they both said.
Because they had done touring productions of "The Cardigans" and
"Pump Boys and Dinettes," the Bondes were aware of the kinds of
entertainment regional audiences were interested in. "I didn't think I
could ever sound like Patsy Cline," Bonde says, "but it was such a
good show, so endearing, that I knew it was something we had to do."
Produced as the last show at the Barn Theater in Tea, S.D.,
"Always...Patsy Cline" drew raves from theatergoers and encouraged
the performers to take their musical to other places. To date, they've been to
more than 30 different towns - from high school gymnasiums to full-fledged
theaters. Routinely, they hear stories how Patsy Cline affected theatergoers'
lives.
One woman, Bonde says, told her her father was among the men who found the
remains of Patsy Cline's plane. "He had pictures, but he had put them
away in a drawer and, once in a while, they'd find him going through those
pictures."
Bonde, too, has become something of a Cline junkie. While on vacation in
Nashville, she and her family visited several of Patsy's haunts, looked
through all the museums and saw yet another edition of "Always...Patsy
Cline." At home, she's even got a poster from the singer's stop in Sioux
Falls.
"There's a hard line that you've got to follow," she advises.
"Even though she existed, she's still a character. I don't want to be
another Elvis impersonator. This is a play. It's a woman telling a wonderful
story and, along the way, you get to hear some great Patsy tunes."
To prove that Cline has left her mark on the Bondes, Kaija says her
youngest son, Aaron, was "pretty much born and raised on Patsy
Cline." Now, 3 1/2, "the only way to get him to eat when he was a
tiny baby was to sing 'Crazy.' "
Now, Aaron comes to many of the performances and, she says, often begins
the applause before the songs end.
Daughter Suzannah, 15, and son Elijah, 7, are also well aware of their
parents' venture.
Shortly after the show went on tour, the Comfort Theater Company recorded a
soundtrack. Since that time, they've pressed a second CD which, they say will
be on sale in Sioux City when the show plays here Oct. 20 and 21. "I
recorded a lot of the stuff a year and a half ago," Bonde says. "And
when we went to print it and produce it, I had to re-record it because my
voice had changed. She has made me grow as a singer."
Although Bonde has played countless roles over the years (including Evita),
she doubts she'll ever divorce herself from Patsy Cline. "I don't want
ever want to shake her," she says. "She was only a performer for
about eight years, but she did so much in that time that she just has to be a
role model for anyone who enjoys singing."
