Best-selling country musical “Honky Tonk Angels” is returning to Gainesville after 13 years.
The country comedy starring Katrina Asmar, Marissa Toogood and Juliana Davis will kick off with a preview screening, beginning 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Hippodrome State Theatre, 25 SE Second Place.
The show will feature music from country icons Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and more. Fans can expect to hear more than 30 different songs, including hits such as “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and “I Will Always Love You.”
With the musical being one of the best-selling in Hippodrome history, Lauren Warhol Caldwell, the Hippodrome’s artistic director, received a lot of requests to bring it back.
“You got to give people long enough to want to miss something,” Caldwell said.
The musical takes its viewers through the journey of three women, each from different walks of life, who cross paths on a bus ride to the bustling city of Nashville. Their shared dream of becoming country music superstars creates a tight bond and a girl group called the Honky Tonk Angels.
Judy Locascio, a fan of the Hippodrome’s summer musicals, is looking forward to watching the show when it premieres.
“They (the summer musicals) are lighthearted and they make me feel so happy,” Locascio said. “I always go there multiple times.”
Meanwhile, Caldwell has devoted herself to bringing back the same energy and performance that fans loved in 2002.
Caldwell, who directed the musical the first time it aired, now has an entirely new ensemble of set designers, choreographers and actors.
Caldwell shrugged off the idea of feeling pressured and instead offered a word of advice that ties in with the message of the musical:
“If you got a dream, you got to be courageous and take a risk, because if you don’t, you’ll never know what’s on the other side of the bridge if you’re too afraid to cross it.”
[A version of this story ran on page 9 on 5/21/15]
