PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES Goes On Sale for MasterCard Members Today

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES announced today that an exclusive presale offer will be extended through MasterCard Priceless New York prior to availability to the general public. Tickets will be available exclusively to MasterCard card holders beginning Wednesday, December 26, 2012, through Tuesday, January 8, 2013. This presale will be followed by a Gilt City presale from January 9-13, 2013, for MasterCard cardholders only. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Monday, January 14, 2013.

PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES will begin previews at Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 with the opening night scheduled for Monday, April 8th. This new production of the Tony-nominated hit musical will include direction and musical staging by Tony Award winner John Doyle and will star Bo Bice ("American Idol" fourth season icon), Alexander Gemignani (The People in the Picture, Sunday in the Park with George), Erik Hayden (Million Dollar Quartet, I'm Getting My Act Together...), Justin Hosek (Broadway debut, member of the country band The Ranchhands), Jane Pfitsch (Company, Les Liaisons Dangereuses) and Leenya Rideout (Warhorse, Company), all of whom will also provide the show's musical accompaniment on instruments including guitar, piano, bass, fiddle, accordion, harmonica...and yes, even kitchen utensils.

Conceived and written by the original company, John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Tony Award-winner Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann, this new production of Pump Boys and Dinettes, John Doyle's tribute to life by the roadside, takes place on Highway 57. Somewhere in America's heartland, between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina, stands a rest stop, for those who need a good rest. The four hard-working fellas at the gas station, Jim, Jackson, Eddie and L.M., have been known to do some auto repairs, but only when aided by ample quantities of time, great tunes and a few beers while they're at it. Just a few feet away, there's also a roadside eatery, the Double Cupp Diner, where the Cupp sisters, Prudie and Rhetta, celebrate their famous home cooking and gift for song with the same zeal they bring to their kinship with the boys.

An exuberant mixture of heartland-pop concert and musical theatre, Pump Boys and Dinettes premiered at the Chelsea West Side Arts Theatre on July 10, 1981, transferring to the Colonnades Theatre in October of that year. The production became a sensation, immediately plugging into the zeitgeist and galvanizing audiences with soul-grabbing hits like "Be Good or Be Gone," "Pump Boys" and "Vacation." The success of the Off-Broadway production led Pump Boys and Dinettes to open on Broadway at the Princess Theatre on February 4, 1982, where it went on to play 573 performances and was nominated for both Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Musical. The New York Times called the show, "Both musically and theatrically, a triumph of ensemble playing. It doesn't merely celebrate the value of friendship and life's simple pleasures, it embodies them," while Newsweek called the show "Totally delightful," and the New York Post, "Such fun!"

Set design for Pump Boys and Dinettes is by Tony Award-winner David Gallo (Memphis, Radio Golf), costume design is by Tony Award-winner Ann Hould-Ward (A Catered Affair, Beauty and the Beast), lighting design is by Mike Baldassari (Cabaret, As Long as We Both Shall Laugh) and sound design is by Dan Moses Schreier (Cyrano de Bergerac, A Little Night Music). Mary-Mitchell Campbell serves as musical supervisor.

More Articles by This Author...