"Pump Boys and Dinettes" will return to Broadway this spring in a new revival directed by John Doyle.
The show, which was nominated for Tony for Best Musical when it debuted in 1982, has a hard-scrabbled setting that should evoke the current economic downturn. The show takes place in a rest stop on Highway 57. The focus is on four hard-working men and women at the gas station and the nearby Double Cupp Diner, who keep spirits up by playing a wide array of musical instruments from the piano to a bass to kitchen utensils.
That kind of all-cast orchestra must appeal to Doyle, whose stripped down version of "Sweeney Todd" won him a Tony in 2006 and had the entire ensemble playing instruments, including the memorable sight of Patti Lupone blowing on a tuba. Doyle also directed a revival of "Company," with the same cast-playing-instruments staging, and a musical version of "A Catered Affair."
Set design for "Pump Boys" will by handled by David Gallo ("Memphis"), costume design is by Ann Hould-Ward ("A Catered Affair," "Beauty and the Beast"), lighting design is by Mike Baldassari ("Cabaret") and sound design is by Dan Moses Schreier ("Cyrano de Bergerac").
The show's producers, Abby Lee, David B. Brode and Executive Producer Tom Viertel, said a theater, dates and casting will be announced shortly.
