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LIGHTNING REVIEW: 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' serves up laughs, Moonpies

The cast of 'Pump Boys & Dinettes' serves country music and laughs. [PHOTO BY SCOTT TREADWAY/Treadshots]

You may only be there for a fill-up or a bite to eat on the way down Highway 57 but before you leave you’ll get a big helping of laughs, be reminded of some of the important things in life, and, if you’re lucky, win an automobile air freshener and a Moon Pie.


A capable cast of six actor/singer/musicians brings this entertaining 1982 Tony Award nominee to life on the Main Stage of the Flat Rock Playhouse. “Pump Boys and Dinettes” takes place at L.M. & Jim’s Service Station and The Double Cupp Diner, located on Highway 57, somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna. There are Smyrnas in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina, and this could be any one of them.
Under the direction of Jason Edwards, the actors begin filtering onstage as showtime nears — the ladies preparing the diner for customers, the men going about different tasks next door. There is no curtain — as the play is about to start the volume of their conversation simply increases.
Set in modern day, “Pump Boys and Dinettes” nevertheless portrays a very different time and place, where the simpler things mean a lot. “Work won’t kill you, but worry will,” they say. “Worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it don’t get you nowhere.”
They certainly aren’t worried about repairing Uncle Bob’s leaky Winnebago. As guitar-slinging station attendant Jackson (Matthew Riordan) says, “The best thing about work...is not working.” Service station manager L.M. (Guy Strobel) is a reluctant ladies man, sort of the shy type. He warns them on “Serve Yourself,” suspicious of the lady bringing her car in with “that shimmy in your rear end.” A showy and smart pianist, Strobel adds a cowbell and hi hat to the ensemble.
The proprietors of the Double Cupp, sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp, sing their menu with some great country harmonies, pointing out that the fish just came “from over yonder.” The gals prove to be excellent percussionists as well, shaking salt or coffee containers, banging pots and pans with wooden spoons and scraping a cheese grater to clever effect.
Mechanic Jim (Sam Sherwood) breaks a date with Rhetta in order to go fishing...for the love of catfish. But Jim redeems himself a bit later singing a song about his grandma, “The love she gave us will abide.” Jackson adds some very sweet guitar riffs as Jim tells the story of why grandma quit drinking whiskey.
While waitress Prudie (played by Rachel Camp) pines for L.M., singing about “The best man I never had,” Rhetta (Charlynn Carter) controls the stage with a strong bluesy voice on “Be Good Or Be Gone.” “Been good too long to be done wrong.”
The gents call their music “pump rock” and sing about also offering cold beer, wine, moonshine, and the wacky weed. Jackson has an Elvis moment describing his “dime-store dream,” and L.M. gleefully reveals his lifelong crush on Dolly Parton. “My first love in country music — my one and only true love.”
Rhetta and Prudie get sassy and sing about what they really want — tips — in a fun-ky duet, then turn to a very sweet song about sisters. “But I never knew you. The best of sisters but never friends. Could we ever be children again.” The mysterious Eddie (Jamie Mohamdein) adds beautiful upright bass work.
Choreographer Amy Jones designs a tap number that features L.M.’s tap boots, but some of her best choreography is the lack of motion by stone-faced Eddie, until the end of the play when he raises his arms triumphantly.
Rhetta goes gospel to announce her need for a vacation. I suppose folks are a bit wore out from all that singin’ and pickin,’ so they drive Uncle Bob’s Winnebago to the Florida Keys. “If the weather is hell we’ll hang around the hotel, making love and watching color TV.” Uncle Bob won’t mind.

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Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $15-40 and can be purchased by calling the Playhouse box office at 828-693-0731 or visiting www.flatrockplayhouse.org.