One of the best bio-musical revues to come down the road in years, Hank Williams: Lost Highway captures not only the bounciness of the singer-songwriter's jaunty ditties (including the genius-touched "Lovesick Blues") but the heartbreak underlying classics like, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." Jason Petty, as Hank, invests the latter tune with so much ache, and Randal Myler's play-with-music contextualizes it so well, "Cry" actually has more emotional pull than Williams' own classic version. We're also treated to -- rarity of rarities! -- a complex portrayal of a musician's wife, as Audrey Mae Williams proves simultaneously career-hungry and truly loving.
After a first act with nary a misstep, Lost Highway drifts a bit, with an ill-fitting comedy number for Williams's second fiddles, and some diffuse storytelling as the protagonist becomes more fuddled by drugs and booze. No matter; after a passel of bland Sondheim, Porter and blues revues, Lost Highway is a blast of country air and sawdust, home cookin' and stale whiskey -- in other words, a real find.
