Pump Boys and Dinettes

On Highway 57 somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, stands a gas station. Across the blacktop is a roadside eatery called the "Double Cupp Diner." The four guys at the station (Jim, Jackson, Eddie, and L.M.) have been known to do some auto repairs, but only when aided by quantities of time and beer. The Cupp sisters (Prudie and Rhetta) celebrate their home cooking with the same zeal they bring to being neighborly with the boys. This musical tribute to life by the roadside was created by Jim Wann, Cass Morgan, Debra Monk, John Foley, John Schimmel, and Mark Hardwick who perform their own songs. Pump Boys and Dinettes began its success in the summer of 1981 with late-night performances around Manhattan. Soon the group joined with long-time friends at Dodger Productions to mount Pump Boys and Dinettes Off-Broadway. Critics and audiences alike responded ecstatically, and after four months of capacity business, Pump Boys and Dinettes moved to Broadway where the show received a Tony Award^® nomination as "Best Musical of 1982" and four Drama Desk Award nominations, including "Outstanding Musical for 1981-1982."

Pump Boys and Dinettes have raffles during intermission, like to plaster the lobby with snapshots of friends and raffle winners, drink beer, cook, even make the occasional auto repair, and they continue to create and perform their special brand of music.

"Pump Boys and Dinettes is a singular mixture of country-pop concert and musical theater, Both musically and theatrically, it is a small triumph of ensemble playing. It doesn't merely celebrate the value of friendship and life's simple pleasures, it embodies them,"

– Stephen Holden, Music Critic, The New York Times

"Pump Boys and Dinettes is as refreshing as an ice cold beer after a bowl of five-alarm chili."

– Mel Gussow, Drama Critic, The New York Times