THEATER REVIEWS : Sending a Song-Filled Valentine to Patsy Cline

Today, when fans stalking, hurting or killing celebrities is the stuff of headlines, “Always . . . Patsy Cline” is an unabashed throwback to the fan as true friend.

Based on the true story of Louise Seger’s fanship-turned-friendship with country-Western singer Patsy Cline, “Always . . . Patsy Cline” is a piece of valentine candy--sticky, sweet and utterly non-nutritious--from admirer to star. The problem with the two-woman national touring production now in a West Coast premiere at the San Diego Repertory Theatre is that unlike the movie “Sweet Dreams,” it’s not about Cline.

The show is about Seger’s obsession with Cline--and it isn’t all that insightful about either woman.

All we learn in this show, which could be more appropriately titled “Occasionally . . . Patsy Cline,” is that Seger fixed bacon and eggs for Cline after a performance and “she was just as much us as we were”--as Seger puts it. There are few clues as to the raw, emotional source of Cline’s singing--which propelled her to the top of the charts before she died 30 years ago this year at age 30 in a plane crash.

But we do get 22 Cline songs, richly and passionately sung by the talented Denise Hillis. The songs crackle with pain and power.

Ted Swindley, founder of the Stages Repertory Theater in Houston, created and directed this wispy little show--which was a big hit at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in January and did well in previous engagements in Houston and Tampa, Fla., and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.

Swindley acquits himself better as director than creator here. While there isn’t much to the story, the performances by Hillis as Cline and Ellen Swenson as good ol’ country girl Seger are deft. The comfortable staging, which fits the production like a well-worn pair of cowboy boots, features a bandstand, an onstage four-man band with a good country twang and a table and chairs.

“Always . . . Patsy Cline,” Lyceum Stage, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego. Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Ends April 24. $18-$24. (619) 235-8025. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.