Florida Studio Theatre celebrates country music with ‘Rhinestone Cowgirls’ cabaret show

Last summer, Samantha Duval was celebrating some of the great female voices in pop music in the traveling concert show “Divas Three” at Florida Studio Theatre. She’s back again, this time doing the same for a wide range of country music legends as one of the three stars of “Rhinestone Cowgirls,” a show she had a hand in creating with producer Nancy Allen.

“We all sat around her kitchen table in Branson, Missouri, and helped create the flow of the show, create the harmonies and once we had the rough draft of the show, we went to a studio and got to build it.”

Duval, who starred as Audrey in last fall’s FST production of “Little Shop of Horrors,” is joined by Charity Farrell (who was also in “Divas Three”) and Gianna Maria. Together they cover everyone from Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn to Faith Hill, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and Shania Twain, with a touch of Taylor Swift thrown in.

In a statement, Allen said the show appeals to both country fans and non-country music lovers. “I paid special attention to creating a show where everyone could connect to the songs in some way,” she said.

During the show, Duval performs hits by Hill, Cline and Swift. “We all kind of sing a bit of Dolly Parton in a nice big medley of her stuff. I don’t get to sing the Reba stuff.”

She said she approaches country music “with a pop sensibility. I don’t think it’s vocally very different for me. I sing a lot of of the lower harmonies which is different for me because I usually sing soprano or second soprano.”

She’s not trying to sound like Hill while singing such hits as “Breathe” or “The Way You Love Me” but it happens naturally. “I think anytime I sing another artist’s song it happens without necessarily trying to. We’ve had people tell us, ‘You sound just like this person.’ I don’t feel myself trying to do that, but it probably happens.”

Among the many hits featured in the show are “Crazy,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Delta Dawn,” “Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats,” The Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces,” Twain’s “Man I Feel Like a Woman” and Swift’s “Our Song.”

The performers travel around the country doing concerts in different venues, and just before coming to Sarasota, Duval was part of the cast performing on a cruise ship in Alaska.

“Working with Nancy Allen has almost become my day job. Before I was a personal trainer and a cater waiter, doing whatever needed to be done between theater gigs, so getting work on these shows is nice. I’m super grateful to her.”

Duval said she grew up listening to country music. “My mom, who is Brazilian, when she moved to the United States, that’s one way she learned to assimilate by listening to country music. We listened to Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Always listening to it. It has great memories for me. It’s what we used to put on on the weekend while we cleaned house. Country music to me is always associated with fun.”

‘Rhinestone Cowgirls’

Created by Nancy Allen. Presented by Florida Studio Theatre. May 21-July 28, Goldstein Cabaret, 1241 N. Palm Ave., Sarasota. Tickets are $18-$42. 941-366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: FST salutes the women of country music in ‘Rhinestone Cowgirls’