“Lighting (Don Darnutzer) and sound (Eric Stahlhammer) were critical as transition indicators to and from regular settings and Hank’s live performances and were done so well, you might start to think you were at a Hank Williams concert instead of a Hank Williams play.”
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ATC’s Hank Williams: Lost
Highway travels the fast lane
by April Putney
FOR THE CACTUS CHRONICLE
If you’ve never heard of Hank
Williams, after seeing the Arizona
Theater Company’s musical production
of Hank Williams: Lost
Highway at 330 South Scott in the
Temple of Music and Art from November
26 through December 21,
you won’t forget him soon.
Mark Harelik and director Randal
Myler co-wrote the script based on
the life and times of the influential
country/blues music star Hank Williams
(Van Zeiler), following closely
the ups and downs of his band, The
Drifting Cowboys, as Hank rises to
and falls from fame, a tragic victim
of life in the fast lane.
Wrought with familiar and nostalgic
characters like Mama Lily
(Margaret Bowman), Hank’s gospel
enthused southern mother, or the
soulful Tee-tot (Mississippi Charles
Bevel) who taught Hank the ropes
of Blues music, Hank Williams: Lost
Highway is well cast using aesthetically
fitting actors who have not only
acting ability to support the show,
but the musical talent to steal it.
Costumes (Robert Blackman)
were used efficiently to emphasize
character and plot nuances
like Hank’s change into a blue
suit when the drugs and alcohol
begin to take their toll, the red in
the back of Hank’s unfaithful wife
Audrey’s (Regan Southard) dress at
his funeral, or the luminous white
outfits the cast wears in the spotlight
when they join in to sing “I saw the
light.”
Lighting (Don Darnutzer) and
sound (Eric Stahlhammer) were
critical as transition indicators to and
from regular settings and Hank’s live
performances and were done so well,
you might start to think you were at
a Hank Williams concert instead of a
Hank Williams play.
Hank Williams: Lost Highway is
a story enjoyable by long-time Hank
Williams fans, those unfamiliar with
his timeless music, and anyone looking
to see a great play. Country music
today has been so transformed from
what it was when Hank Williams was
alive that the music genre in the play
should become a non-issue for people
who are anti-country.
The Arizona Theater Company
will run Hank Williams: Lost Highway
from November 26 through
December 21 at the Temple Of
Music and Art in Tucson, From
December 29 to January 22 at Herberger
Theater in Phoenix, and at
the Mesa Arts Center from February
3 until February 12. For ticket
information contact ATC’s box
office at 520-622-2823 or online at
arizonatheater.org.