Though they know their way around serious material, such as in last year’s production of “Next To Normal,” the folks at the City Theater in Biddeford also love a good laugh. That’s what they deliver in abundance, as well as a ton of good-natured song and dance, with their latest show.
“Pump Boys & Dinettes,” a 1982 Broadway revue unfolding on side-by-side sets of a Southern highway gas station and the diner next door, offers little plot but a lot of folksy entertainment as seven local performers throw themselves happily into their musically fleshed-out roles.
THEATER REVIEW
WHAT: “Pump Boys & Dinettes”
WHERE: City Theater, 205 Main St., Biddeford
DATE REVIEWED: Saturday; continues through March 26
TICKETS: $20
CONTACT: 282-0849; citytheater.org
Original country and early rock-style tunes, comedic ditties and a few soulful ballads provide opportunities for solo spots as well as duets, trios and companywide numbers that evoke romance, family values and slices of male and female bonding to go along with the much sought-after diner pie. Directors Linda Sturdivant and Brian McAloon keep the action flowing at a firm pace with another distinctive number always just around the corner in the 90-minute show.
Joel Crowley plays Jim, a good-old-boy with a guitar who, like his coworkers at the gas station, prides himself on, as an early song recommends, “Taking It Slow.” Jim provides the audience, in a slight drawl, with bits of cornpone wisdom while introducing his co-workers and the two waitresses from the Double Cupp Diner next door.
Crowley had a spotlight number with “Mamaw,” a heartfelt ballad about his character’s grandmother and the ups and downs of rural life, but was generally a high-energy guitar slinger, especially when matched up with a smitten waitress.
Sara Sturdivant, as Prudie, matched his energy as she confessed to looking for “The Best Man.” Sturdivant was a solid comedic presence throughout Saturday’s performance, teaming up with Kelsey Franklin on the waitresses’ duet “Tips” and nailing their solidarity on the ballad “Sisters.” Franklin stepped up to the lead on “Be Good or Be Gone,” one of several numbers to highlight the countrified musical theater choreography of Mariel Roy.
Kevin Smith played honky-tonk piano from behind the gas station counter and was featured in several lighter numbers, including “The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine.” Bass player Jason Phillips rocked his “Mona” like it was 1955, and several performers got to tap dance in their “Drinkin’ Shoes.” A hand-clapping, spiritual chorus suggested a higher significance to the worker’s dreams of “Vacation.”
Josh Adams (drums) and Brian Callaghan (guitar) kept the rhythms tight and the twang in place for this entertaining visit to a tuneful refuge by the highway.
Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.
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