OK, so I spent an evening in Issaquah taking in Village Theatre’s production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes.” At the end of that evening I walked away both wildly entertained and slightly confused.
Just what WAS that thing?
“PB&D” is definitely not a stage play, even though it is completely scripted. It is not a traditional musical, despite being called “The Grand Ole Opry Musical” on Village’s marquee. Oh, there are definitely hints of the Opry in the two-hour production; there’s also a generous helping of “Hee-Haw,” with most of the show’s jokes coming straight from the cornfield.
So what is it?
Two hours of fun is what it is. I suppose on a technical level it’s a Revue, though since all the songs are original and it’s scripted from beginning to end that definition isn’t quite accurate, either. Tell you what, let me describe the show and see what you think.
First off, every person on that stage could easily forge a separate career as a musician … they’re all that good. The “pump boys” are three guys , Jim, Jackson, and L.M., who run a service station on North Carolina highway 57. The station also serves as the set for the show, along with a slice of the neighboring “Two Cupp” diner, where sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp serve up coffee (“the second cup’s on me!”) and pie along with energetic song and dance. Thrown into the mix are a drummer (simply named “Drummer”) and Eddie (“the best man in town even though she’s a girl”) who performs wondrous moves with a bass, among other instruments.
This aggregation nee cast cavorts around the stage for the evening as though it was a touring Country show (anyone else remember those heady shows put on by Garth Brooks? Yeah, like that). Jim, serving as master of ceremonies, had the audience eating out of his hand from the first moment he opened his mouth; the rest of the case/ensemble managed the feat as well. Especially fun was the time when Dinettes Prudy and Rhetta ventured out into the audience while singing the rousing ditty, “Tips,” only to be actually handed tips — real, American dollars — by a couple of audience members. Plants? Maybe … but it doesn’t matter, it only served to pull the entire audience further into the craziness. So did the “sweepstakes,” the drawing of an actual ticket stub that pulled an audience member up on stage to receive a prize, a car air freshener. Yee-HAW!
Foot stompin’ and clappin’ and just about anything but sing-along happened throughout the show. (There probably would have been sing-along if the songs weren’t all original and thus new to the audience.) And the music wasn’t all traditional country, either; as proof I give you Rhetta’s rousing Aretha Franklin-esque belting of, “Be Good or Be Gone” — wow! And equally wow! was the quiet ballad “Sister” delivered by the Cupp sisters, the kind of moving ballad that makes country/western fans weep (‘you’re my sister but I still don’t know you’). Yum.
I guess my only hesitation comes from a definite 50’s feel in the second half — musically, at least; somehow I expected young Elvis to put in a cameo at any moment. He didn’t, though Buddy Holly may have been watching from the wings; regardless, the fun barreled along unstopped right through “Closing Time” (just what it sounds like) and a foot-stompin’ medley of what are inarguably the best moments of the show’s best songs. The audience was in it to the end and on their feet in seconds when the last notes sounded.
Bottom line: leave your expectations at the door, or at least in the lobby. This ain’t your daddy’s Broadway musical, nor is it Opryland transported to the Pacific Northwest. It IS two hours of energetic, blood-pumping good times.
Pump Boys and Dinettes, presented by Village Theatre at the Francis J. Gaudette thestre in Issaquah, September 15 – October 23, 2016; moving to Everett’s Performing Arts Center October 28 – November 20, 2016.