Sweet relief from summer heat: Leading ladies the reason to see Drury Lane’s ‘Always … Patsy Cline’

“Always … Patsy Cline” — 3 stars

Drury Lane Theatre’s sunny revival of “Always … Patsy Cline” comes at the right time.

Summer is the ideal season for this warmhearted jukebox tuner by writer/creator Ted Swindley. A combination tribute concert and memoir, it doesn’t demand much from its audience.

But the two-hander — inspired by the real-life friendship between country superstar Patsy Cline and Texas superfan Louise Seger — delivers more than two dozen gems including “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Stupid Cupid” and “Crazy,” among others.

That sweet relief from summer’s heat the score provides is made sweeter by Aja Alcazar and Bri Sudia, the talented, effortlessly personable stars of director Scott Weinstein’s winning production.

Alcazar plays Cline, the pioneering mid-20th-century singer who successfully crossed over from country Western to pop music during her brief but impactful career. She died in a 1963 plane crash at the age of 30.

Sudia plays divorced mother of two Louise, who the musical suggests recognizes in Cline’s music a shared heartache. Hearing the singer perform on television, Louise recalls “a voice that absolutely stopped me in my tracks.” A fan was born.

Much of the action centers on a chance meeting between the women during Cline’s 1961 performance at the Esquire Ballroom in Houston, which also hosted country stars George Jones, Charlie Pride and Willie Nelson, among others.

Friendship blossomed, and Louise invited Cline back to her home for bacon and eggs, followed by cigarettes, whiskey, ice cream (in that order) and a heart-to-heart talk about kids and men that bonds them.

“It was like finding the sister I never had,” said Louise, whose friendship with Cline continued via letters until the singer’s death two years later.

(The musical’s title takes its name from the closing — “love always, Patsy Cline” — she wrote in her letters to Seger).

Projecting down-home charm, the amiable Alcazar handles most of the vocals. Deftly shifting from twangy to torchy, there’s nothing contrived about her voice, whose timbre suggests an almost imperceptible ache. Brava.

The showier role belongs to Sudia, an excellent singer who, with the exception of a couple of brief duets, doesn’t get many opportunities to show off her exceptional voice. No matter. Sudia is funny, effusive and entirely believable as a fan who wears her devotion on her sleeve. Equally important, Sudia’s performance makes clear her respect and affection for Louise, a role that in lesser hands could emerge as a caricature. Again, brava.

Swindley’s pedestrian book is a weak link, but Alcazar’s and Sudia’s performances, accompanied by the Bodacious Bobcat Band — made up of conductor/keyboardist Ellie Kahn, violinist Elleon Dobias, guitarist Brian Wilkie, bassist Larry Kohut and drummer Patrick Morrow — make up for it.

The action unfolds on designer Collette Pollard’s rustic, honky-tonk set accented by multicolored lights extending over the audience. While some of Lee Fiskness’ lighting designs puzzled me, I found the colorful strands charming. The spotlight illuminating Alcazar’s Patsy (dressed in a gorgeous green cocktail dress by designer Emily N. Brink and looking every bit a star) during “Your Cheatin’ Heart” was spot-on.

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Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com

Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, through Aug. 3

Tickets: $75-$150; dinner-theater packages available

Running time: About 2 hours, with intermission

Parking: Free in the adjacent lot

Rating: For most audiences