Pump Boys and Dinettes

Pump Boys and Dinettes
Music	John Foley Mark Hardwick Debra Monk Cass Morgan John Schimmel Jim Wann
Lyrics	John Foley Mark Hardwick Debra Monk Cass Morgan John Schimmel Jim Wann
Book	John Foley Mark Hardwick Debra Monk Cass Morgan John Schimmel Jim Wann
Productions	1981 Off Broadway 1982 Broadway 1984 West End

Pump Boys and Dinettes is a musical written by a performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consists of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members additionally directed and starred in the Broadway production.

History

The musical was created by two friends who worked at The Cattleman restaurant in New York City, dramatizing their experiences there.^[1] It started as a two-man act, and then expanded.^[2] As Jim Wann, the show's principal author and composer recalled in 2010,

I was a scuffling songwriter/guitarist and Mark Hardwick was a piano player/actor.... Mark and I were unemployed and happy to take a job playing five nights a week in the Cattleman Lounge, attached to a restaurant on one of the darker blocks west of Grand Central. Our mission was to play country standards to entertain the "tired businessman" who had come for the drinks, the steaks, and the waitresses in classic Western saloon girl attire. On slow nights we'd play original songs I was writing for Mark's emerging comic persona.... Mark came in one night wearing a matching dark blue twill shirt and trouser outfit [and] I went out and bought one just like it. By and by we had oval patches over the pockets with our names in them.... So we became guys who worked at the gas station. ... Our imaginations were taking over and our Pump Boys repertoire began to grow. The Cattleman management soon grew tired of this nonsense and showed us the saloon door.^[3]

Productions

The musical premiered on Broadway on February 4, 1982 at the Princess Theatre and closed on June 18, 1983, after 573 performances. It had premiered at the Chelsea West Side Arts Theatre in 1981, moving to the Colonnades Theatre (Greenwich Village) in October 1981.

The show played in London's West End at the Piccadilly Theatre from September 20, 1984 to June 8, 1985 and transferred to the Albery Theatre from June 11, 1985 to September 2, 1985.^[4][5] The production starred, amongst others, Paul Jones, Clodagh Rodgers, Joe Brown and Kiki Dee.

The show played for many years in Chicago at the Apollo Theatre on Lincoln Avenue.

In July of 2014, the show was revived for five performances at New York City Center as part of the Encores! Off-Center program.

The musical tells the story of four men (L.M., Jackson, Jim and Eddie) who work at a gas station and two waitresses (sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp) at the "Double Cupp Diner," a dinette, located somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina. The music is mostly from the country rock/pop music genres. They perform on guitars, piano, bass and kitchen utensils.^[6]

The original cast album was released by CBS Records in the U.S. Its recording of "The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine" reached number 67 on the Hot Country Songs charts.^[7]

Other Media

Pump Boys and Dinettes On Television was a pilot episode for a series adaptation of the show featuring the Broadway cast and appearances by Ron Carey and Tanya Tucker. It aired on NBC on August 15, 1983, but a series was never ordered. ^[8]

Songs

Lyrics and music by Jim Wann (unless otherwise noted)

Act I Highway 57 — Company Taking It Slow (Music and lyrics by John Foley, Mark Hardwick and John Schimmel) — Pump Boys Serve Yourself — L.M. Menu Song (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan and Debra Monk) — Dinettes The Best Man — Prudie Cupp Fisherman's Prayer — Pump Boys Caution: Men Cooking (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan, Debra Monk and John Foley) — Pump Boys Mamaw — Jim Be Good or Be Gone — Rhetta Cupp Drinkin' Shoes (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan, Debra Monk and Mark Hardwick) — Company

Act II Pump Boys — Pump Boys Mona — Jackson T.N.D.P.W.A.M. (The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine) — L.M. Tips (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan and Debra Monk) — Dinettes Sister (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan) — Dinettes Vacation — Company No Holds Barred (Music and lyrics by Cass Morgan) — Company Farmer Tan — L.M. and Dinettes Highway 57 (Reprise) — Company Closing Time — Company

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
1982	Tony Award	Best Musical		Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Musical		Nominated
		Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Mark Hardwick	Nominated
		Outstanding Lyrics	John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann	Nominated
		Outstanding Music		Nominated

Notes

1. "Country goes pop in musical at Cabaret.(Entertainment)". The Register Guard (Eugene, Oregon). September 14, 2006. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
2. Keyes, Bob (June 10, 2004). "MSMT pumped up for season opener". Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine). Retrieved October 4, 2012.
3. Wann, Jim (November 18, 2010). "Jim Wann Remembers Pump Boys". Masterworks Broadway (Sony Music Entertainment). Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
4. Listing, West End, 1984-1985 broadwayworld.com, accessed May 19, 2009
5. Listing, West End, 1984-1985 This is Theatre, accessed May 19, 2009
6. Pump Boys and Dinettes Production notes samuelfrench.com, accessed May 19, 2009
7. Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 244. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
8. Corry, John (August 15, 1983), "TV: NBC's Adaptation Of "Pump Boys" Tonight", New York Times, retrieved September 12, 2015

External links

• Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Internet Off Broadway Database
• Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Internet Broadway Database
• History and background
• Synopsis at Guide to Musical Theatre
• Pump Boys and Dinettes revived in New York in 2011 by Numero Uno Productions.