THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 97 lines
THEY'RE SINGING about Kitty Hawk and Jockey's Ridge in Washington, D.C., these nights.
Who would have thought that starched-collared bureaucrats within the Beltway would have caught on to the joys of fishing and hanging out on the Outer Banks of North Carolina? But there they are, in the venerable Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, actually moving to songs about joyriding at Nags Head, dancing the shag, fishing with rubber worms and playing bingo.
Washington is calling it a shag attack.
On stage are two good ol' boys, graduates of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who know what they're singing about. It's Jim Wann at guitar and Bland Simpson at piano, and the show is called ``King Mackerel and the Blues Are Running.''
The duo's work is well known locally, and just about everywhere else. Wann, who lived in Virginia Beach for a while, is the main force behind ``Pump Boys and Dinettes,'' the little musical about a Tar Heel dinette that surprised everyone by becoming a Broadway hit in 1982. It even got a Tony nomination for ``best musical'' that year and went on to play over a year in London (proving conclusively that ``Farmer Tan'' and down-home visits are universal).
Simpson, who was also in on the ``Pump Boys'' phenomenon, has become a respected writer, mostly on Eastern North Carolina subjects, as well as a member of the Red Clay Ramblers, the group that has played on Broadway as background for everything from Sam Shepard dramas to the comedy ``Fool Moon.''
Staged in the Terrace Theater atop Kennedy Center, ``King Mackerel'' greets visitors with a sandy setting, complete with a king mackerel itself displayed at stage right. Simpson sits on a drink cooler rather than a piano stool and Wann wears a baseball cap and a guitar. Don Dixon, the regular bassist (who often tours with Hootie and the Blowfish) has taken leave for another summer job and has been replaced by young, energetic Ken Darcy.
Like ``Pump Boys,'' the show has no plot, but there is a central theme. The three musicians, who call themselves the Coastal Cohorts, are supposedly putting on a benefit to save Miss Mattie Jewel's hotel, which has been damaged by a hurricane and is in danger of being taken over by a corporate group of condo builders called the Greedheads.
Along the way there are folk-rock, gospel, blues and a cappella songs.
The best of the lot is ``Georgia Rose,'' a full-out drama about a lost love who had psychic powers. Wann based it on a piece of Eastern North Carolina fiction.
``Shag Baby'' is an homage to bands like the Cadillacs, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs and the Tams, sung by a couple of white boys who grew up listening to black musicians. ``Food Chain'' is a tribute to Miss Mattie's cooking. ``Joyride'' is about the night they stole Grandma's station wagon and got it stuck in the sand. There's even a song called ``Kitty Hawk and Jockey's Ridge,'' with fleeting references to Orville and Wilbur (accompanied by a story of how, at age 11, they tried to invent a flying machine of their own).
There's a song about a North Carolina ghost - the dead trainman who supposedly waves a lighted lantern at Maco. The song is called ``The Maco Light.'' There are songs about hurricanes, as well as the softer ``I'm the Breeze.''
Backstage, Jim Wann, looking as boyish and as friendly as he did when he first made the break to New York in 1975, explains that ``King Mackerel and the Blues Are Running'' is not actually a new show.
Simpson, a native of Elizabeth City, and Wann wrote many of the songs in the 1980s, still basking in the wake of the ``Pump Boys'' success. ``Mackerel'' got a new life, though, when it had a six-week off-Broadway run last year, and the critics responded.
Clive Barnes, the critic for the New York Post, claimed it is a ``pure salt-watered delight'' sparked by ``charm personified and naturalness rampant.''
``Pump Boys'' continues to be produced around the world, including highly popular productions locally at Founders Inn and Virginia Stage Company. Wann, whose son still lives in Virginia Beach, recently married actress Patricia Miller (who appeared in ``Vanities'' in New York as well as many other shows).
Wann embarks on a new career in the fall - appearances with pop symphony orchestras - beginning with a concert at Chattanooga in his native Tennessee. ``Many of the songs will be from `King Mackerel,' '' he said. ``I'm in the process of choosing the ones that will adapt to symphonic orchestration. `I'm the Breeze' is particularly good for that.''
Meanwhile, there's talk that ``King Mackerel'' will re-open off-Broadway in the fall.
Wann also would like to take the show to Virginia Stage Company, where his North Carolina pirate musical ``Hot Grog'' was a public, but not a critical, hit.
``Diamond Studs,'' the first Wann-Simpson musical, is getting a national tour next season, with ``Dukes of Hazzard'' stars John Schneider and Tom Wopat as Jesse and Frank James.
``Pump Boys,'' which has its own theater in Branson, Mo., will also have its own theater at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Meanwhile, Wann plans to continue writing. He's a rare combination of author and performer who has managed to capture not just the Outer Banks but the overall feeling of a small-town America that is fast disappearing.
And if you can't get to the Kennedy Center, the original cast recording is available on Sugar Hill Records. MEMO: What: ``King Mackerel and The Blues Are Running''
Who: Composed and performed by Jim Wann and Bland Simpson
Were: Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
When: Today at 3 and 7 p.m., Tuesday-Friday at 7:30 p.m.
How much: $25; tickets available at Kennedy Center Box Office or by
telephone charge at 1-202-467-4600 by CNB