Going Down a Classical Country Road

Purists of either country or classical music may sneer, but the country-classical musical “Cowgirls” is an amiable attempt to bridge the two cultures. Throw in a lightly feminist libretto, and Fullerton Civic Light Opera has a distinctive and disarming charmer onstage at Plummer Auditorium.

The production is very similar to the show’s initial Southland foray, a stop at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in early 1996, en route to off-Broadway success. Four of the six San Diego cast members are still with the show, as are director and choreographer Eleanor Reissa, James Noone’s Kansas barroom set and Catherine Zuber’s well-delineated costumes--both classical and country.

The Coghill Trio--piano, violin and cello--is rehearsing Beethoven in deepest Kansas, thanks to a telephone misunderstanding of its name. Jo (Rhonda Coullet), who just inherited her daddy’s rundown bar, thought she was booking the Cowgirl Trio. The next night will mark the return of women performers to this bar, after years in which Jo’s father banned women because his wife ran off decades ago. You’d think Jo would, at the very least, book an act she already knew and liked for such an important occasion. But one should not approach this script with a fine-tooth comb.

The pianist in the trio is the pregnant Rita (musical director Mary Ehlinger), who’s making a last stab at an independent fling before she settles down with husband and child. On cello is Lee (Amy Meyers), who uses her New Age beliefs and can-do spirit to serve as a mediator and cheerleader. Lee is a lesbian, a fact that’s treated frankly but without gratuitous attention.

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The most culturally shellshocked and hence the funniest member of the trio is violinist Mary Lou (the show’s creator and composer Mary Murfitt). Because she has the longest arc to traverse before she learns country ways, her ultimate success is all the more vivid.

Not that the show treats classical music as a relic simply to be shed; the book, by Betsy Howie, casts a clear vote for classical as the sexiest kind of music. Nor does country music come off as something just for hicks: The score’s most moving musical moments are a couple of country and folk-flavored ballads in the second act.

The first act ends with an effectively affirmative anthem that draws on both classical and country--and also on the musical theater tradition of separating a group of characters into individual soliloquies that share the same musical background.

Among these characters are two of the bar’s waitresses and would-be performers, the much-married Mickey (Jackie Sanders, in skin-tight jeans) and the kid who doubles as the bar’s unofficial bookkeeper (Renee M. Clary). A subplot concerns Jo’s refusal to let these two perform, an obstacle that suddenly melts away without explanation in the show’s wish-fulfillment ending.

Still, if the ending is a little too easy, there is ample comedy and a touch of pathos in the earlier glimpses at the ongoing transformations, not only of the classical trio but also of the queen-bee character of Jo. Coullet has an appealingly husky voice that makes her decision to sing again rewarding for everyone.

Because it’s essentially imported and small scale, “Cowgirls” isn’t nearly as risky for Fullerton as was its production of “Children of Eden” earlier this year. Still, the shows reveal a commendable willingness to stray from the usual musical theater titles.

* “Cowgirls,” Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; this Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m.; July 24-25, 2 p.m. Ends July 25. $14-$35. (714) 879-1732; (714) 526-3832. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Rhonda Coullet: Jo Carlson

Mary Ehlinger: Rita

Amy Meyers: Lee

Mary Murfitt: Mary Lou

Renee M. Clary: Mo

Jackie Sanders: Mickey

Conceived by, music and lyrics by Mary Murfitt. Book by Betsy Howie. Original story development by Kevin Kean Murphy. Directed and choreographed by Eleanor Reissa. Musical direction and arrangements by Mary Ehlinger. Set by James Noone. Costumes by Catherine Zuber. Lighting by Tom Ruzika and Steve Young. Sound by A.J. Gonzalez. Production stage manager Donna R. Parsons.