‘Conway Twitty the Musical’
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds, Hiawassee
How much: $15-$25
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds, Hiawassee
How much: $15-$25
The legend of country music star Conway Twitty lives on in a new stage production coming to the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds this weekend.
“Conway Twitty: The Musical” is partly inspired by the biographical “Always, Patsy Cline” show, said Twitty’s daughter, Joni, and Twitty’s daughters got together to create a similar tribute to their father.
The result is a musical that not only goes through Twitty’s musical history but also shows him as a person.
“We wanted to do something really special in our dad’s memory,” said Joni in a phone interview with The Times. “We went a few years ago to see the ‘Always, Patsy Cline’ story, so we held auditions and got the director of the Patsy Cline story.”
They held auditions across the country and online, eventually settling on Glen Templeton, a young man from Alabama, to play the part of Twitty.
“It’s eerie how much he sounds like dad,” Joni said. “It’s like we get to have him back for two hours every night. It makes us feel very close to him.”
The show includes a bit of Twitty’s childhood, Joni said, including his upbringing in Mississippi and his start in the music business. Many of the stories are things Joni and her sister, Kathy, remember from growing up.
Part of the show also includes quotes from a taped interview Twitty did before his death in 1993.
“We didn’t want to just tell the music thing, we wanted people to know the man, because that’s where he really shined as a man,” Joni said. “We wanted people to know him as a dad and a friend and a husband, so we were able to tell personal stories of the man and his life.”
“Conway Twitty: The Musical” is partly inspired by the biographical “Always, Patsy Cline” show, said Twitty’s daughter, Joni, and Twitty’s daughters got together to create a similar tribute to their father.
The result is a musical that not only goes through Twitty’s musical history but also shows him as a person.
“We wanted to do something really special in our dad’s memory,” said Joni in a phone interview with The Times. “We went a few years ago to see the ‘Always, Patsy Cline’ story, so we held auditions and got the director of the Patsy Cline story.”
They held auditions across the country and online, eventually settling on Glen Templeton, a young man from Alabama, to play the part of Twitty.
“It’s eerie how much he sounds like dad,” Joni said. “It’s like we get to have him back for two hours every night. It makes us feel very close to him.”
The show includes a bit of Twitty’s childhood, Joni said, including his upbringing in Mississippi and his start in the music business. Many of the stories are things Joni and her sister, Kathy, remember from growing up.
Part of the show also includes quotes from a taped interview Twitty did before his death in 1993.
“We didn’t want to just tell the music thing, we wanted people to know the man, because that’s where he really shined as a man,” Joni said. “We wanted people to know him as a dad and a friend and a husband, so we were able to tell personal stories of the man and his life.”