If you aren’t a fan of country music, New West Theatre might very well convert you with their show “Country Gold: Songs of the Prairie Grass.”
A solid cast explores traditional country music and rural living without making a mockery of it. Well not too much of a mockery.
The “Fiddle Barn” set looks like the interior of a barn, and is set a lot closer to the audience adding a pleasant air of intimacy. So the cast and talented band are almost in the audience‘s laps.
There aren’t as many full on group numbers, but a lot more solo performances or performances featuring a few of the cast including Scott Carpenter, Erica Hunt, Kathy Zaborsky, Jocelyn Haub and Devon Brayne and newcomer Juran Greene.
For added intimacy, while individual actors perform, the other cast members creep to the side of the set and listen intently.
Everybody gets their time in the spotlight.
Juran Greene shines on “She Got the Coal Mine,(I Got the Shaft) as well as on various tall tales.
You also get to know the cast members individually as each of them performs a piece of their own personal cowboy poetry about their experiences growing up on the and/ or moving to the prairies. Some are sweet and earnest like Kathy Zaborsky’s piece, while other are flat out hilarious like the piece by Juran Greene who talks about growing up in North Carolina.
They also have a very cool running gag used to introduce the band they called the “Barn Bandits.”
Actors come on stage at various moments in the show to share one part of the legend of the barn bandits and their individual role in a nefarious plot to blow up a train.
As usual there is some pretty inspirational comedy including Erica Hunt’s twisted square dance caller, getting the cast to perform some hilarious square dance moves.
While a lot of the vocals stray more towards the opera and pop side of the spectrum rather than country twang, there are also some really nice musical moments. Kathy Zaborsky explores her strong mid range vocal abilities on a sultry cover of Faith Hill’s “Breathe.”
She also plays a sweet instrumental following a young couple from their first date through their senior years. Young couple Devin Brayne and Jocelyn Haub beautifully act out the life of this couple.
Juran Greene also sings and inspirational version of “Amarillo.”
And Patsy Cline has never sounded more beautiful than when sung by Erica Hunt.
The entire cast end the first set with a spine tingling version of “16 Tons,” on which they each sing a verse.
The band also got to shine, guitarist Scott Mezei, who learned to play banjo for this show, showed his banjo chops on a variety of country themed TV show themes.
But the highlight was a showstopping number by fiddle player Norbert Boehm who brought the house down at the end of the show with a sizzling, finger-tip bleeding version of fiddle classic “Orange Blossom Special.”
Country Gold runs until July 27 at 7:30 p.m. each night except Sundays and Mondays in the Yates Theatre.
