THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010054
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, THEATER CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
THE PUMP BOYS and dinettes are back in business, and it's thigh-slapping, down-home fun.
``Pump Boys and Dinettes'' is the little musical that wowed the up-nawth folks back in 1982 and has lived to come back home. A country-pop musical potpourri, it originated in the Ranch House Restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., and, to everyone's surprise, became a hit Broadway musical. It even netted a Tony Award nomination.
``Pump Boys,'' which had a successful run at Virginia Stage Company, is currently at the Founders Inn Dinner Theater.
Set in rural North Carolina, it is a refreshing and reassuring picture of Americana - a reminder that good ol' boys, and girls, do still exist in spite of all the highfalutin' talk about nervous breakdowns and crime waves. This is a world in which folks don't lock their doors and the biggest worry is whether the catfish are biting.
It takes place, with no worry about anything as ponderous as a plot, at L.M.'s gas station and the Double Cupp Diner next door, run by the Cupp sisters. Some people get confused and go to the diner to get gas, but everyone is treated ``nice.''
Under the direction of Gary Spell, with musical direction from Kathi Caplan, this production maintains all the good-humored and good-hearted ease that is needed.
The cast manages to get homey but, wisely perhaps, never goes all out to ``sell'' the songs. It's not a knock-out production; it's more a down-home, friendly production.
Pleasingly, the Founders Inn's often over-amplified sound system has been toned down so the singers don't become electronic creations.
Most pleasingly, the cast manages to fully convey that they admire and embrace the country characters they play. There was always a sneaking suspicious, as heinous as it might be, that the Broadway crowd flocked to this show because they wanted to laugh at it, not with it.
Caplan, who plays Rhetta Cupp, has the kind of open, honest face that could sell a used car to a shut-in. Popping gum and slinging hash, it's apparent that Rhetta's tough exterior hides a tender heart. You know she means business when she sings, to a philandering guy named Jim, ``Be Good or Be Gone.''
Spell is equally folksy as L.M. himself, assigning himself the show's two funniest songs, ``Farmer Tan'' and ``The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine'' which is, of course, a fantasy.
Michelle Hickling brings an authentically country sound to her solo, as Prudie Cupp, ``The Best Man.'' Tom Schultheis is the good-natured, good-looking leading man of the pump boys.
The real scene stealer, though, is Bobby Mauney as Jackson. He has crazy feet that might have been borrowed from early Steve Martin.
This dinner theater likes to take risks on long runs. They scored last season with what is arguably the longest run in local musical theater history, the production of ``Forever Plaid.'' They'll run ``Pump Boys and Dinettes'' through May 11 which, as it turns out, may not be long enough.
There's something to be said for hanging around with simple, fun-loving folk. None of these characters is likely to ever need a psychiatrist. ILLUSTRATION: The cast of ``Pump Boys and Dinettes'' includes, front row, from
left, Kathi Caplan and Michelle Hickling; back row, Gary Spell, Tom
Schultheis and Bobby Mauney.
THEATER REVIEW
What: ``Pump Boys and Dinettes''
Who: Kathi Caplan, Gary Spell, Tom Schulteis, Michelle Hickling,
Bobby Mauney
Where: The Founders Inn Dinner Theater, Virginia Beach, exit
286-B off Interstate 64
When: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, dinner at 6:30,
show at 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, dinner at 5:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m.,
through May 11.
Tickets: $35.55 for dinner and theater, $22 for theater only
Call: 366-5749
by CNB