STAGE REVIEW : Plotless Revue ‘Pump Boys’ Relies on Hayseed Charm

In “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” which opened over the weekend at the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove, Tin Pan Alley takes a detour somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna.

There, on mythic Highway 57 at a little truck stop that time forgot, the down-home gas pumpers and the corn-pone waitresses put on a slight, crowd-pleasing revue of 20 country songs, a tap dance and--Gawd help us!--a raffle.

It is the equivalent of dinner theater without the dinner.

The reed-thin show has no plot, relying instead on hayseed charm and quaint good will. The four pump boys at this gas station are not in much of a hurry to do anything but go fishing and sing love-struck songs about Dolly Parton, for instance. Overhaul a transmission? Not unless you’ve got three weeks to hang around. And if these guys handle a wrench the way they troll for romance, you wouldn’t even trust them to wipe your windshield.

“One of the best things about this job,” says Jim, the chief mechanic, “is women come right up and talk to us.” One of Jim’s typical propositions: “I’ll clean up all the beer cans in my car if you go out with me.”

In the meantime, those two cute cupcakes--Rhetta and Prudie Cupp--wait tables at the Double Cupp Diner across the way. They bake a lot of pies and claim “our menu is a road map to your heart.” They have a fondness for men, of course, and an equal fondness for tips (though, come to think of it, they didn’t serve so much as a cup of coffee all night long.) The good ol’ gals from “Hee Haw” couldn’t hold a candle to Rhetta and Prudie, with or without canned laughter.

Everyone is allowed to slum a little, so you can’t accuse the artistically ambitious Grove Theatre Co. of serious turpitude. Admittedly “Pump Boys and Dinettes” is a long way from Grove’s last offering (“The Price” by Arthur Miller) as well as its next (Shakespeare’s “Richard III”).

But “Pump Boys” was certified high-quality goods by the critics back in 1982 when they nominated the Broadway version for a Tony Award. And, more recently, a production in Chicago has struck such a responsive chord that it has been on the boards for 1,485 consecutive performances, which makes it the longest-running musical in Chicago theatrical history.

Still, you have to scratch your head over the Grove production. The whole thing looked cramped and uninspired Friday night. The staging had so little focus that the director had yet to solve the problem of what to do with the microphone stands that kept getting in the way of the cast.

Granted, it was the show’s first night before an audience. But having the players haul those stands around the stage was clumsy and distracting. They need to relate more to each other, not worry about the mikes. Besides, why do they need mikes in the first place? The Gem Theatre seats all of 178 people.

Not only was the production physically shoehorned, it lacked the conviction of an imaginary world made real. While serviceable as a novelty revue, the show failed to dramatize why the songs needed a theatrical context. The pump boys and dinettes rarely seemed to believe in themselves as characters (with the energetic exception of Kelli Evans, who threw herself headlong into the role of Rhetta). They could just as well have strummed their guitars and beat their pots and pans at a night club, minus the costumes and the set.

Even so, “Pump Boys and Dinettes” held the audience in thrall to its countrified style. Much of the credit has to go to the wry humor of the lyrics because the tunes are more or less forgettable and to Jerry Siggins, whose professional competence as Jim held the show together.

Apart from his musical talent, Tom Griffin was very funny as L.M. singing “Farmer Tan” (brown arms, white chest, red neck). And as Jackson, Gary Grantham’s deadpan devotion to a Woolworth cashier--”a gum-poppin’, be-boppin’, heart-stoppin’, dime store dream”--in the second-act song “Mona” was one of the show’s sterling moments.

Others highlights included the harmonizing of Evans and Leisa Jo Waller (Prudie) in the sentimental “Sister” and their sassy belting in “Tips.”

“PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES”

A Grove Theatre Co. production of a musical by Foley, Hardwick, Monk, Morgan, Schimmel and Wann. Directed by Dean Hess. With Leisa Jo Waller and Kelli Evans as Prudie and Rhetta Cupp; Jerry Siggins as Jim, Gary Grantham as Jackson, Tom Griffin as L.M. and David Klein as Eddy. Scenic design by Gil Morales. Costume design by Karen J. Weller. Lighting design by David C. Palmer. Sound design by John R. Fisher. Performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Sundays at 3 p.m. At the Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Through June 25. Tickets: $13 to $16. Discounts for seniors, students and groups. (714) 636-7213.