Little Shop of Horrors brought Patti Peake back to the TLT stage after way too long an absence and, lucky us, we get to see her again in The Sound of Music, TLTs latest musical, opening at the Tryon Fine Arts Center on February 19.

If youve only seen her weave her magic on stage, you may not realize what a renaissance woman Peake is. Shes managed a fine jewelry department, worked as a singing waitress, sung and danced for Musicana Enterprises up and down the east coast, worked with several horse farms breeding horses, and also trained and cared for racehorses on a local farm.

Shes been a vet tech and surgical scrub nurse for a local veterinarian, has hand-painted tile, become a blacksmith, and now works in a local studio crafting fine light fixtures from copper and bronze.

She has a small blacksmith shop in her garage – just to keep her hand in when she isnt singing with the Community Chorus, volunteering for the Foothills Humane Society, the PoKitties program, Thermal Belt Outreach Food Pantry and the Feed-a-Kid program. And she still finds time to grace the stage over the years.

When she married Lee Holroyd a number of years ago, Peake didnt don a white dress for the occasion she just took a quick break from working at Saluda Forge and was married right there in her jeans, amongst the grime and coal dust. But she makes up for it in her theatrical roles The Sound of Music will be the fourth time shell wear a wedding dress for TLT. The other three roles were in Company, I Do, I Do and High Society.

And this will be the second time she takes on a role made famous by Julie Andrews. How can you forget her performance as Eliza in My Fair Lady? The show was such a sell-out that it was held over for a second weekend. As for her role in Sound of Music, Peake says she is very excited to be playing Maria for the first time.

The Sound of Music runs at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, February 19 and 20 at 8 p.m., February 21 at 3 p.m., and again February 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. and February 28 at 3 p.m. Tickets will be available from February 5 at the TLT workshop box office at 516 S.Trade St. from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Drop by or call 828-859-2466 to reserve your seats.