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Barry Kirk spends a night with the Pump Boys and Dinettes at the Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch
It takes a brave theatrical programmer with a diverse, out-of-the-box thought process, to follow Carol Sloman's stunning portrayal of Willy Russell's Shirley Valentine, with a country and western musical, but that is why we have the Queen's Theatre.
With Pump Boys and Dinettes, the Billet Lane venue has once again achieved a surprising combination of tastes by serving up the equivalent of a Jasper Conran meal of caviar followed by a plate of chips.
It sounds impossible, but it works and in this case, the chips had lashings of Heinz 57 Tomato Ketchup.
Pump Boys and Dinettes is a typical piece of mid-America, where you stop the car for a tank of gas and stroll over to the Dinette for a plate of mom's apple pie and endless cups of coffee accompanied by country and western music with a side order of 50s rock and roll.
I can't think of any other setting where this variety would have worked, but surprise is an in-built quality of the theatre.
The secret ingredient is of course the Cut to the Chase actor/musician company in the hands of director Matt Devitt.
The story line is loose, to say the least, in fact there isn't one worth comment, but with Matt Devitt at the helm, who needs it?
It was escapism at its best. A question of sit back, clap your hands and let it all flow over you. Not everyone's idea, I admit, but it will take a poor patron not wanting to get up and dance in the aisles.
Centred on a Highway 57 garage and cafe, or I should say, gas station and dinette, the characters struggle through life in a mix of sun-bathing, singing and fishing until sun-up.
The gas station boys, and I charitably include the oldest rocker in Hornchurch, James Earl Adair, while away the hours, fishing and pretending to repair cars for a living.
As a sort of relaxation, they pop across the road to the dinette run by two sisters for their meals. The resulting relationships between four lads and two women are spotlighted in a blaze of almost continuous music.
Working on the elegantly designed set by new kid, Mark Walters, the basis of the story and words are few and far between.
This is not a thought-provoking piece of theatre for the intellectual hierarchy who buy the programme to see if they are mentioned in the seat sponsor section.
This is purely and simply a brilliant night out of tub-thumping music performed by a group of very talented people.
James Earl Adair, who does a fair impression of a resurrected line dancer, leads the boys.
He may be showing his mileage, but the star of many Queen's productions is no slouch when it comes to drawling his way through country and western music with a little tap dancing routine on the way.
Philip Reed, well known to Hornchurch faithful as Cookie from Return to Forbidden Planet, and the next best thing to Matt Devitt on the guitar, once again makes the instrument sing.
Interestingly, two newcomers to the company, Peter Helmer and James Eaton added another dimension to the show.
This is Peter's first appearance at the Queen's, and his role of Eddie, a sort of beach bum without the beach, hid his musical pedigree until a look in the programme notes revealed he once played with The Jam, Duran Duran and the Dammed.
James Eaton is another find, emerging from the Theatre in Education programme, and what a find he is. With a singing voice matching his guitar work, he led centre stage for many of the numbers and hopefully looks like featuring in more Queen's productions.
The dinette sisters were two particular favourites of mine. Loveday Smith, has the ability to wipe out the memory bank with a wicked smile. However, when the demure wife of co-musical director, Julian Littman, brings her favoured trumpet to her lips, the joint swings and the rafters shake.
And finally, the woman whose sense of humour, guitar playing, and "rattling the windows" voice has no equal - Wendy Parkin is the other sister, who put the cherry on the cake with a unique performance.
Stagecraft is an over-used word, but when seen in the Parkin context, you can only sit in open-mouthed appreciation.
In this show, she even gets among the seats in the auditorium and trots out one-liners' with the skill of the all-round entertainer.
There are 21 songs in just under one-and-a-half hours, and these six actor and musicians demonstrate class and quality in just about every aspect of theatre.
In fact the only missing element was a touch of Shakespeare, but as most on stage have a wide repertoire of theatrical credits, Romeo was in there somewhere.
As I said earlier, not a night for the starched shirts, but one of simple escapism, a perfect way to forget the troubles of the world for about 100 minutes.
The show runs until Saturday, April 2, with tickets ranging from �8.50 to �16 and available from the box office on 01708 443333.
Romford Recorder � 18th March 2005
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