STAGE TUBE: Backstage with Village Theatre's PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES, Featuring Levi Kreis

Village Theatre kicks off its 2016-2017 Season with Pump Boys and Dinettes, a light-hearted concert-style musical celebration of life's simple pleasures, set on Highway 57 in North Carolina. Click below to go behind the scenes!

In the first production helmed at Village Theatreby new Associate Artistic Director Brandon Ivie, the show features a talented ensemble cast that includes performer Levi Kreis playing L.M. Kreis was last seen rocking Village Theatre's stage as Jerry Lee Lewis in the new musical Million Dollar Quartet, a role that carried him to Broadway and won him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical.

Other Pump Boys and Dinettes cast members are Joshua Carter as Jim, Sylvie Davidson as Prudie Cupp, Michael Feldman as Jackson, Olivia D. Hamilton as Eddie, Sara Porkalob as Rhetta Cupp, and James "Rif" Reif as Drummer.

Written by a performance group of the same name comprised of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann, Pump Boys and Dinettes became a surprise hit on Broadway in 1982, with a fun-loving country and bluegrass-inspired score that mimicked the band's own performance set. The musical welcomes its audience into the everyday goings-on of a downhome group of friends - a couple of pump boys at a gas station and the waitresses who work at the diner across the pavement - as they sing about the simpler things: fishing, beer, good food, and the importance of taking life slow. In directing the musical, Ivie has taken the show's origins to heart, bringing the score to life one song at a time in rehearsals that more closely resemble band practice. Every performer is an accomplished musician in his or her own right, with two cast members stepping into the spotlight after performing as part of Village Theatre's orchestra last season. Together, the ensemble cast plays a vast variety of instruments, including guitar, piano, bass, cello, ukulele, and banjo.

Joining Brandon Ivie on the creative team are R.J. Tancioco as Music Director, Andrea Bryn Bush as Scenic Designer, Chelsea Cook as Costume Designer, Geoff Korf as Lighting Designer, and Brent Warwick as Sound Designer.

Pump Boys and Dinettes, sponsored by Redmond's Bar and Grill and SeattlePI.com, is on stage at Village Theatre's Francis J. Gaudette Theatre in Issaquah from September 15 to October 23, before moving to the Everett Performing Arts Center from October 28 to November 20. Tickets are on sale now in Issaquah and can be purchased online or through the Box Office at (425) 392-2202. Everett tickets go on sale September 14.

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