When these folks get together after work, they blow the roof off the house with lively country-western music that will bring a smile to your face.
Rhetta Cupp ~ Nancy Kolton
Prudie Cupp ~ Melissa "Missey" Young
Jim ~ Mark Johnson
LM ~ Lex McCauley
Eddie ~ Ken Van Mersbergen
Jackson ~ Christopher Kaye
- - - How it started - - -
WINTER 1980
Two guys named Mark Hardwick and Jim Wann are playing 5 nights a week in the Cattleman Restaurant in New York. Mark plays the piano, Jim plays the guitar. To break the drag from playing the same show 5 nights a week, Mark starts to wear funny outfits. One of his favorite outfits is his gas station uniform. He is convinced it is the 'coolest outfit in the world'. Soon after, Jim joins Mark in his 'costume escapades'. When people ask them what it is all about, they say they are gas station attendants (Pump Boys) during the day and musicians during the night. Soon they are called...... the Pump Boys.
At this same moment, Cass Morgan, wife of 'Pump Boy' Jim, is trying to put together a cabaret act with Debra Monk, They are acting as waitresses in a diner, calling themselves the Cupp Sisters. Waitresses in a diner are called..... Dinettes.
Once in a while, just for fun, the Dinettes join the Pump Boys at their performances in the Cattleman Restaurant, thus 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' is established.
Jim and Mark start to write songs about 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' and are soon accompanied by old friends John Foley and John Schimmel. John Foley and Jim have known each other since they were classmates at school in Frog Level near highway 57, North Carolina. Together they create what is to become a very successful show all over the world.
The first performance of 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' is given in the summer of 1981 in New York. The Chelsea West Side Arts Theatre has the honor of the very first show. Only a few months later, they have to move to a bigger and more suitable theatre due to its enormous success. It is October 13, 1981 that the Colonnades Theatre in Greenwich Village has its first 'Pump Boys' show. The successful story continues soon after the opening night at the Colonnades Theatre -- it is Broadway calling. In February 1982, 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' moves to the Princess Theatre on 48th Street for its Broadway premiere; and this same year it is nominated for a Tony award for Best Musical - the highest honor on Broadway. 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' is a giant success.
After a successful run of 573 shows, 'Pump Boys' goes on tour. lt will be hard to beat the success they had on Broadway, or so everyone thought. However, it came as no surprise that it was just as successful all over the United states as it was on Broadway. 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' goes on to break several records.
We are in Chicago and it's November 27, 1984. lt is opening night and it's the first show of the total of 1948 shows which will be given during the next four and a half years. 575,000 tickets are sold with a profit of $10.5 million dollars. In the meantime, Kiki Dee is performing the part of Rhefta on the West End in London, and 'Pump Boys-..' can be seen all over the world.
The first revival of 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' is planned only one year after its successful run in Chicago, and it is still being played all over the world today. It became one of the most successful musicals all because of a silly 'dress up escapade....... and now 'Pump Boys and Dinettes' is known as the most durable and longest running show in the Chicago theatre history ever.
