“Always … Patsy Cline,” through Oct. 22 at The Pine’s Dinner Theatre, Allentown, is an entertaining musical written by Ted Swindley, producer and director of more than 200 plays during the past two decades, and a prolific playwright whose scripts include “Honky Tonk Angels,” a successful Pine’s production earlier this season.

As in “Angels,” the latest Pines production is loaded with nostalgic country music, but that is where the similarities end. “Always...Patsy Cline” provides an endearing glimpse into the life and career of one of America’s most iconic singers from the 1950s and early 1960s. It tells a real story, about a real person, not a group of fictional female performers.

“Always,” which premiered in 1988, is based on letters written by Cline to an avid fan, Louise Seger, whom she met in 1961 while performing at the Esquire Ballroom in Houston, Texas. It seems that it was not unusual for Cline to meet with fans after her shows, and to talk with them for hours. Cline formed a special bond with Seger. The letters continued until 1963 when Cline died in a plane crash.

Pines director Oliver Blatt has once again shown an understanding of the nuances of musical theater and, in particular, a deep appreciation of American country music. With just a stand-up microphone, two overhead spotlights and a darkened stage, he is able to create both the mood and the intimacy of the days when Cline and other country singers were starting their careers on small stages all over America.

Stacey Yoder achieves a “suspension of disbelief” as Cline, drawing the audience into the pretense with her renditions of “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces” and the signature song “Crazy.” During the Sept. 15 performance when “Always” was reviewed, the incredibly versatile Yoder not only captured the country cadence in Cline’s voice, but also imbued her performance with much of the same expressiveness, bold delivery and torch-song styling that was Cline’s trademark. Cline once told someone, “I just sing like I hurt inside.”

Yoder sings an incredible 27 songs, including two encores, backed up by a small but mighty band of three musicians: Stacy Bechtel, conductor, piano; Gene Fries, guitar, and Dan Marks alternating with Robert Williams, drums.

Amber Blatt as Louise Seger is the storyteller. Blatt fills us in on the early days when she first heard “the chunky little country girl with the impressive voice” sing on the radio, or when Cline made her television debut in 1957 on “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts.” The musical’s not just about Cline’s career, though. “We shared every secret either one of us had ever known,” Seger (Blatt) declares in one scene.

Blatt has a demanding role. She provides the energy and humor to keep the show moving and engage the audience. She gets lots of laughs with her dance gyrations, facial expressions and lines like “It’s a real frog strangler.” At times, however, it feels like she plays her character a little too broadly. Otherwise, her last scene when she reads Cline’s last letter, and then hears of the singer’s death, is genuine and moving.

Yoder did her own costuming, and obviously did her homework. As Cline says in the script, when she first started performing she wore cowgirl outfits hand-sewn by her mother, but as her styling crossed over and became more sophisticated, she preferred evening gowns and cocktail dresses. Included among Yoder’s many costumes is a red sequined cocktail dress and an all-white outfit reminiscent of Cline’s “Red Shocker” and white chiffon dress worn during the last concert before her death.

“Always … Patsy Cline” at the Pines Dinner Theatre is almost Patsy Cline, at least a very reasonable and enjoyable facsimile.

Tickets: Pines Dinner Theatre Box Office, 448 N. 17th St., Allentown; 610-433-2333