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Pendragon plans ‘Honky Tonk’ Carnival show

From left, Laura Farrell, Beth Buczkowski and Annachristi Cordes will take to the Pendragon stage during Winter Carnival for a boot-scootin’ good time in “Honky Tonk Angels.” (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

SARANAC LAKE — Be prepared to stomp and holler at Pendragon Theatre during Winter Carnival — the stage is turning into a honky tonk, complete with a live, on-stage band, for the production of “Honky Tonk Angels.”

The show will run Feb. 1 through 12 during Winter Carnival. Tickets can be purchased at https://bit.ly/3XTDpXS. Tickets bought before Feb. 1 will cost $25. After that, tickets cost $35.

Beth Buczkowski, Annachristi Cordes, Laura Farrell and Jess Kemp play the eponymous Honky Tonk Angels — Sue Ellen, Angela, Darlene and Sue Ellen again, respectively. Buczkowski and Kemp play Sue Ellen at different points in her life.

“Dueling Sue Ellens,” Kemp said.

Kemp said their characters are a group of “unlikely friends” who each meet one another in periods of transition in their lives — as they are leaving something, finding something, liberating themselves from society’s expectations or family expectations and finding joy through pursuing their dreams.

From left, Laura Farrell, Annachristi Cordes and Beth Buczkowski will take to the Pendragon stage during Winter Carnival for a boot-scootin’ good time in “Honky Tonk Angels.” (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Buczkowski said she enjoys playing a character who is hard around the edges, but who finds a softer core around her newfound friends. She has been “jaded” by two divorces and a creepy boss and is ready to start a new life in Nashville. Her character has spent her life trying to fit society’s expectations of marriage.

“She just finally realized she’s coming into who she is without the man,” Buczkowski said.

Her character is trying to figure out her contentious relationship with her mother. She wants to prove to her mom that she is somebody and wants mom to really see her. In real life, Buczkowski said she loves her mom, so she is pulling from her lived experience.

Kemp said she enjoys playing a character who is “unafraid.”

“Sue Ellen, what I really like about her is she just says stuff and then she does it,” Kemp said. “She walks the walk and I really admire that about her.”

From left, Laura Farrell, Annachristi Cordes and Beth Buczkowski will take to the Pendragon stage during Winter Carnival for a boot-scootin’ good time in “Honky Tonk Angels.” (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Farrell plays a shy, kind, small-town girl seeing the wider world for the first time. She has experienced tragedy but knows following her dream is worth it.

“She decides to be brave and follow her dreams,” Farrell said.

Cordes’ character Angela has been married to her husband Bubba since getting out of high school. With three children, she has only known domestic life and taking care of other people. But she hasn’t done anything for herself.

She is able to follow her dream thanks to her mother.

“For her entire life she’s been sort of forced to be selfless in a lot of different ways,” Cordes said. “This is like her time to be young when she never had that chance to be young for herself.”

She said Angela is filled with a limitless amount of love she gives to everybody, but she is learning to love herself, too.

For the actors, they can relate to following the dream of singing and performing, but unlike their characters, none of them are doing it for the first time.

Kemp said she hasn’t known anything else.

“With my big sister, it was monkey see, monkey do. She sang, so I did too,” she said.

She had stepped away from acting for a while to pursue a degree, but now she’s back.

Cordes went to school for musical theater and graduated during the coronavirus pandemic, so she said she’s always thankful for opportunities to perform. She said lots of them have been in the Adirondacks and she’s found a community here.

Farrell said she also grew up seeing her sisters in high school shows and knew she wanted to do that too.

Buczkowski grew up watching her dad, a high school music teacher, leading rehearsals and working as the choir director at church. She was surrounded by musicals and it got into her blood. She said she staged backyard plays and sang whenever she felt like it.

It is challenging but rewarding to portray a character through song, Buczkowski said.

“That’s my favorite thing,” she said. “It’s fun to throw the personality in there and not worry so much about the notes. When you fall into the song you’re just living the song. It’s fun.”

There are 29 songs in total in the show — lots of country standards; some old, some … not quite as old. The 80s was a while ago now, Director and Choreographer Beth Glover pointed out. There are numbers from Dolly Parton, Kitty Wells and Loretta Lynn — soft country melodies, powerful ballads and upbeat anthems about the harm loose men have caused.

Toward the end of the play, when the trio sing “Front Porch Swing,” their voices joining and slowly rising together, their friendship can be heard clear as day.

Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2, 8, 9 and 11; at 5 p.m. on Feb. 12; and at 3 p.m. on Feb. 4 and 5. The Feb. 4 show should be out in time for the Carnival fireworks at 7 p.m.

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