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Worth seeing if you like theater.

Saturday May 05, 2001.     By Joseph Bowen

Theater Feed

Northlight Theatre
Tickets: (847) 673-6300
Through January 3

There are great musicals, there are bad musicals, and there are musicals that, if you like the theatre and are looking to have a great time, you must see. Cowgirls is in that last category. The production currently at the Northlight Theatre in Skokie is just a lot of fun.

Cowgirls is not just sweetness and light, however. For a show whose main dramatic themes are coming to terms with your own frailties, dropping your defenses, and dealing with the loss of a parent, it's surprisingly uplifting. The Cowgirls of the title are actually the Cog Hill Trio, a group of female classical musicians, now in the midst of a dilapidated U.S. tour. Mistaken for the "Cowgirl Trio", they have been booked into Hiram Hall, a run down country music palace in Rexford, Kansas. Hiram Hall's owner, Jo Carlson (Rhonda Coullet, reprising her off-Broadway role), who is in danger of losing her venue due to old debts left by her father, is depending on her new act to save her business from extinction. The trio, violinist Mary Lou (Dawn Bach), pianist Rita (Nancy Voigts) and cellist Lee (Cynthia M. Cobb), try desperately to come to terms with their own insecurities and artistic blocks as they try to learn to play country music. Meanwhile, Mickey (Jane Baxter Miller), a don't-call-me trailer-trash Hiram Hall waitress and wannabe singer tries to get Jo to kick the three classical snobs out and let her and her sidekick Mo (Christine A. Cloutier) headline at the grand reopening.

Through all of this hilarity, though, we see that each of the characters has their own brand of pathos: Jo's struggle to deal with her mother's desertion and her father's death; Mary Lou's pursuit of excellence to please her now deceased mother; Rita, now expecting a child, and desperate to finish this tour to give her life some meaning beyond her home life and the piano lessons she gives to the children in her home town; and Lee, desperate to come out of the closet. Cowgirls is a musical that seems to cover the bases and neatly wrap it all up in a rousing, toe-tapping finale.

Betsy Howie's book, like the books of many musicals, could use a lot of reworking. There are many unnatural dramatic leaps, and the dialogue seems to be merely present to string the songs together. Mary Murfitt's music, though, is exciting and inventive, especially Jo's act two solo "It's Time to Come Home", the most poignant moment of the evening. In this musical-without-a-band, the actors are to be commended for wearing all the hats in the production. Notable performances come from Rhonda Coullet as Jo, Dawn Bach as Mary Lou, Nancy Voigts as Rita, and the very funny Jane Baxter Miller as Mickey.

Cowgirls is a great show to see at the Holidays. Jump over to Northlight from your shopping and see something that will send you home humming and tapping your feet.