Classic Female Country Songs Take Stage at New Circa Show in Rock Island
Girl power takes center stage as Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse continues its 49th season with the foot-stomping good time “Honky Tonk Angels,” running Friday through April 25. The feel-good country-music revue was hailed by Rochester Media as “heaven on earth.”
“Honky Tonk Angels” is a celebration of female country music stars, telling the story of three fictional women who leave their mundane lives behind to pursue their dreams of singing in Nashville. Angela is a housewife, weary of standing by her man and his coming home a-drinkin’ with lovin’ on his mind, who decides that her boots were made for walking, according to a Circa release. Sue Ellen has abandoned working nine-to-five to reconnect with her childhood home.
Darlene was born a coal miner’s daughter, but after Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge, she packed up her guitar and set out to fulfill the dream they shared. The show features a collection of more than 30 classic country hits, including such favorites as “Delta Dawn,” “Stand By Your Man” and “Harper Valley PTA,” woven into a humorous and heartwarming narrative.
Unlike most Circa musicals, the theater will feature a live band on stage.
Syd Richardson, left, Jennifer Barnaba, and Hanna Marie Felver in “Honky Tonk Angels.”
A review of an August 2025 California production (at fanboynation.com) said: “This irresistible celebration of classic country music, female friendship, and chasing your dreams is one of the most enjoyable nights I’ve had in the theatre all year.
“Too often, the term ‘jukebox musical’ is used as a pejorative, as if joy and nostalgia are somehow lesser forms of musical theatre storytelling,” the review said. “But that attitude only serves to gatekeep what should be a welcoming, ever-expanding theatrical experience. ‘Honky Tonk Angels‘ proves that a well-crafted jukebox musical, when done right, can be deeply moving, uproariously funny, and unforgettable.”
Directing Circa’s production is frequent dinner theater performer Tristan Tapscott, recently seen in such musicals as “Come from Away,” “Mary Poppins” and “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.” Area favorite Ron May serves as the show’s music director.
Popular Circa ’21 performer Syd Richardson (“Come from Away;” “Church Basement Ladies;” “Disenchanted!”) portrays Angela, with Jennifer Barnaba from “Saturday Night Fever” playing Darlene and Circa newcomer Marion Stenfort playing Sue Ellen. For the first week of the run, Sue Ellen will be played by Circa ’21 favorite, Hanna Marie Felver, due to an injury.
The cast of “Honky Tonk Angels,” now playing at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse through April 25.
The trio of women are the only characters in the show, and they occasionally interact with the audience and have phone calls with off-stage characters. We see a picture of Angela’s husband, Bubba. The period isn’t specified, but they think it may be the 1990s.
The show must go on with understudy
Felver is understudy for both Sue Ellen and Darlene, as she went on for Sarah Hayes during the recent “White Christmas” run for one weekend. “It was one of the most terrifying, thrilling experiences that I’ve ever had,” she said Thursday of the holiday show.
“Sitting in with all the rehearsals, it’s really cool because you get to see someone else perform the role. You get to see all their choices at the same time,” Felver said. “You get to make a lot of your own, and you get to make the character your own without deterring from what this other person has created in this character that is in this story. It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind because this was not expected. But it is all about staying on top of your game and making sure that you can pick up all the little details.”
Felver’s first time on stage as Sue Ellen was Friday, March 6, and there are many songs that feature three-part harmonies.
“After the initial shock wore off, it was still very nerve wracking, but I was confident in my abilities and I have swung shows before,” she said. “I’ve understudied before, so I couldn’t let the nerves get to me too much because I have a job to do. This is what I do for a living. And I trusted myself and my abilities in order to do this role justice.”
Jennifer Barnaba, left, Syd Richardson, and Hanna Marie Felver.
Felver is originally from Ohio and majored in musical theatre at Bowling Green State University. Her previous Circa ‘21 credits include Come From Away (Janice & Others) Arthur & Friends Make a Musical (D.W.), The Rocky Horror Show (Columbia), White Christmas (Tessie/Mrs. Snoring Man/Martha understudy), Santa Clause: The Musical (Punchy) and Jersey Boys (Ensemble/Lorraine understudy). Other favorite theatre credits include Lorraine in Jersey Boys (La Comedia Dinner Theatre) and Cathy Hyatt in The Last Five Years (CTW Collective Toledo).
“It’s really neat. We all have such different sounds to our voices. Like, all four of us, like Marion and you,” Richardson said to Felver. “It’s so cool. After staff preview, I was hearing from one of the Bootleggers. They were like, when you’re all singing together, it sounds like you all have just one voice. I was like, that’s such a cool thing to hear.”
Why are country shows so popular here?
The country, classic music shows really resonate at Circa, Richardson noted.
“Country music is so about storytelling. And I feel like that’s why it resonated with everybody who would listen to country songs,” she said. “I don’t want to diss the country music of today, but I am. They just don’t make them like they used to, you know, like, they really had stories in them, and they were heartbreaking and lovely and left you wanting more or weeping, and it’s just so beautiful. And I think everyone can relate to something in them.”
She expects audiences to have a great time, and sing along to many familiar hits. The show takes its title from one number, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” the 1952 song recorded by Kitty Wells, the first No. 1 country hit by a solo woman.
The show’s live band includes Steven Lasiter, left, and Brad Hauskins, with Jennifer Barnaba.
“I think a lot of what I notice singing a lot of country music is that people grew up listening to the songs,” Barnaba said. “Whether it was something that they chose or for a lot of people, their parents loved this music, and so it reminds them of a lot of times it’s people who pass on, and so we hear that a lot. It’s like, my dad used to sing this song. When you sang it tonight, it made me think about him and what good times we have together. It’s such a blessing to be able to bring that to people.”
“That’s one of my favorite things about being in the lobby after the show is just like hearing people word vomit what they were feeling the entire time during the show,” Richardson said.
Barnaba is thrilled to be a part of this show and to get to pay homage to so many country legends. She is originally from Dayton, Ohio and enjoys old-timey music.
She and her husband, Steven Lasiter (who’s in the “Honky Tonk Angels” band) have their own Johnny Cash & June Carter tribute show: Cash, Carter, & Company and she’s pleased to be sharing the stage with him again. Favorite credits include: Next to Normal (Natalie), Into the Woods (Cinderella), Footloose (Ariel), The Addams Family (Wednesday), Ring of Fire, Always… Patsy Cline, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, The Buddy Holly Story, The Marvelous Wonderettes, and the Million Dollar Quartet National Tour.
“I kind of fell into country music like six or seven years ago,” Barnaba said Thursday. “I liked it as a kid, and I’ve just been doing shows like this over and over. It just really connects with people. And I’ve done ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ nine times now.”
Jennifer Barnaba, left, Syd Richardson, and Hanna Marie Felver.
They will perform their “Cash, Carter & Company” show at Circa’s Speakeasy one night in April. He plays Johnny Cash when they do “Million Dollar Quartet,” and they’re Johnny and June in “Ring of Fire.”
“Once we got married, we were like, well, you know, we’re only going to take contracts together,” Barnaba said of being in shows together. “And it’s worked so far.” Lasiter briefly lived in the QC over 15 years ago. They met doing a show in Alaska for Holland Cruise Lines and have been married three years.
What live music adds to a show
The current Circa live band is composed of Emmett Boedeker on keyboard, Steve Lasiter on guitar, Tom Pickett on steel guitar, Brad Hauskins on bass and Scott Pauley on drums.
Richardson said using prerecorded tracks is nice and consistent, but a live band adds a whole different energy. “You really feel the vibe of your audience, which alters your show,” she said. “I feel like it’s such a story we’re telling the whole time, we’re really connecting with the audience. We really are gauging their reactions when we’re doing things.”
“It’s a huge energy,” Barnaba said. “If the audience was really into it, we can bring the tempo up or the volume, or if you feel like holding a note a little bit longer, you can.”
“There’s such an energy and excitement that you feel. It really brings the characters and the songs and just the entire place to life,” Felver said. “And you really feel that with a live band as opposed to tracks, and you even feel it through the audience, because everyone loves a live band.”
Of the show solos, Richardson loves Barnaba singing “Ode to Billie Joe” (originally made famous by Bobbie Gentry). “You’re low. It just sounds so cool. And the way the band is behind you, that is such a cool song for you,” she said.
Richardson loves her own “Barroom Habits,” and they all love Felver singing “Cornell Crawford,” a funny number about Sue Ellen’s first serious boyfriend.
“That’s definitely the song I have the most fun on,” she said. “And it’s a very comedic song. It’s so fun and it’s so outrageous.”
Felver’s own favorite is “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” “I definitely think it’s one of my favorites because of the energy I get from the audience because people know that song,” she said.
Stenfort – who will make her Circa ’21 debut as Sue Ellen — is a French actress, singer/ songwriter and musician based in New York City. Proud graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, her favorite credits include “Once” (Priscilla Beach Theatre, Stageworks Theatre, Hackmatack Playhouse), “Children of Eden” (West End Church), “Merrily We Roll Along” (The Heights Players), “Grease” (Priscilla Beach Theatre), “The Rocky Horror Show” (Kraine Theatre) and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Drilling Company).
Richardson said it’s priceless for them to put on big wigs and become other people every night.
“It’s great. It’s the whole reason you got the job,” she said. “I mean, to have fun while you work is to not work.”
While Felver will be sad to leave the cast after a week, she remains understudy for the parts through the run.
“I have to be ready to go on, so it’s not like I’m going away somewhere,” she said. “My heart’s gonna be part of the show. It’s gonna be with you three every night.”
“Honky Tonk Angels” will be presented through April 25, with performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 5:30 p.m. and Wednesday matinées at 1:15 p.m. Pre-show entertainment featuring the theatre’s wait staff, the Bootleggers, also will precede all performances. Ticket prices are $70 for the Friday-Sunday performances and $63 for the Wednesday matinee and evening productions.
Reservations are available through the Circa ’21 ticket office, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island, by calling 309-786-7733 ext. 2, or visiting circa21.com.
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