If you look at the set picture above, you can see what we
saw upon entering the house. The show is unabashedly down-home country and the
scene design is full of memory-jogging properties from a time now gone. There
are no apologies offered for singing songs about grease monkeys and waitresses who inhabit the
Double Cup diner. As a matter of fact, a good share of the audience may have
had a cup of coffee at a similar business in their own hometown this morning.
Repartee from the audience was encouraged and responded to
by the supple cast members. From the
leads to the drummer, they all came through as the kind of good, hard-working, fun-loving,
droll, and sassy men and women who served the nation’s highways before small
towns were bypassed by the interstates. All of this went a long way toward building
a fully satisfying texture for this actor and audience-centered production.
I also admired the choice to hew to the first off-Broadway performance
and use standing and handheld mikes rather than individual glued-in-place
lavaliers. This helped set the period as well as keeping the lyrics crystal
clear and the instrumentation under good control. There was not need to add glitzy
modern pulsating high-colored lighting effects. The ungelled instruments kept
the production palette as subdued and real as the set, props, and costumes.
Superior vocals were provided by Layton White and Deb
Kennedy while Jeff Roush’s folksy patter and multiple guitar changes held everything
together. Tim Fees’ voice didn’t have
the range of some others, but when he showed his skill with the harmonica and
accordion as well as the keyboard, I was sold on his understated personality as
the somewhat shy and unassuming guy who must always have been a part of the
workers at any truck stop. it seemed to reinforce the sense that you didn’t
need two tons of computer equipment, flashy tech effects, and gaudy costumes to
set the perfect intimate tone for this show.
The topper came when the cast, in true community theatre
tradition, trooped out to the lobby after the curtain call to mingle with the
audience. This was theatre as it was
meant to be—full of heart, appealing to all ages, expertly designed, and
performed with gusto. I will be in the audience for the group's next
performance of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple in late September.
Y’all Come Now!!
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