CORN PONE COATED LAUGHTER FILLS GASLIGHT'S "HEE HAW REVUE"

By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com

 

Outstanding in their field, that's the Gaslight Music Hall gang in this rural knee-slapper .

What a rootin' tootin', boot scootin', finger lickin', fender whackin', hum-dinger of a whistle bender. Yep...we're talkin' the fired-up high-energy “Hee Haw Country Western Revue” at the Gaslight Music Hall in Oro Valley, where every song and joke is faster, brighter, tighter and downright more determined to prove “You're never too old to learn somethin' stupid!”

Taking all of its cues from the old “Hee Haw” television show and borrowing some of its show biz personalities from earlier country music eras, this production directed by Mike Yarema is the new high-water mark against which all future Gaslight revues will be compared.

Where else can you hear such sentimental love songs as “If My Nose Was Runnin' Money, Honey, I'd Blow It All On You.” That one comes from Homer (Brian Paradis) and Jethro (Randall McDonald), singing two-part harmony just for the echo effect.

Doing his best to add some respectability is Armen Dirtadian, bless his little pea-pickin' heart. He comes on stage believing for all the world like he was born to play Tennessee Ernie Ford singing “Sixteen Tons.” The audience was right there with him, turning the chorus into a sing-along smoother than a sweet sip of Kentucky whiskey. Or is it Tennessee whiskey?

Either way the drinking customs of Appalachian mountain folk were being noted.

Of course no reference to “Hee Haw” could skip over those jokes in the corn field, where country cuties Cait Rudd and Chelsea Hicks were ready to cut loose with their own potent punch lines.

“Did you hear they have raised the drinkin' age to 32,” asked one.

“Yep, they're tryin' to keep alcohol out of the high schools,” said the other

But Rudd and Hicks weren't just two more funny faces. Hicks got to do the Patsy Cline numbers “Crazy” and “Walkin' After Midnight.” Rudd came right back with Loretta Lynn's “You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man) and a bluesy “Careless Love.”

Chipping in his own style of humor and charm is Dennis Tamblyn as Grandpa Jones singing “I'm My Own Grandpa.”

All six singers join in several mix and match ensembles, including a tribute to the Sons of the Pioneers with “Cool Water” and “Tumbling Tumbleweeds.”