Pump Boys and Dinettes

About the show

The story takes place on an unspecified "Highway 57" on the outskirts of Frog Level, a rural community somewhere in the southeastern United States ("in Grand Ole Opry country" according to the official summary), at two adjacent locations: the Pump Boys service station and general store co-owned by Jim and L.M., and the Double Cupp, a diner operated by sisters Prudie and Rhetta Cupp ("Highway 57"). Jim's Uncle Bob calls the gas station to inquire about when his Winnebago will be fixed, and Jim stalls him by saying it takes time and extra care to do the job right ("Takin' It Slow"). Jim talks about the ladies that swing through the area, noting that his employee Jackson chases them, Eddie (a friend of the pump boys who hangs out at the station while his Edsel is being fixed) once lured a wealthy actress, but L.M., the station bookkeeper, draws the most attention, which L.M. doesn't even want ("Serve Yourself"). At the Double Cupp, Rhetta advertises the diner's menu ("Menu Song"). Prudie talks about how the male-to-female ratio in the area plays in her favor, and that although Eddie comes close to her ideal, his being from the nearby "inbred" town of Smyrna is a deal-breaker, and her real soulmate is in the audience ("Best Man"). Jim talks about how he forgot he had promised to take Rhetta to a minor league baseball game when he chose to go fishing instead ("Fisherman's Prayer"/"Catfish"). Jim recalls his late grandmother ("Mamaw"). Jim takes one of the catfish from his fishing trip to Rhetta to cook, but Rhetta is still jilted and tells him off ("Be Good or Be Gone"), to which Jim tries to make good by offering her a silk artificial rose and to clean up his truck if she accepts another date at a nearby bar ("Drinkin' Shoes"). After intermission, the Pump Boys advertise their gas station's services and goods ("Pump Boys"). Jackson talks about what he does on the weekends, when he goes into town, where he has a crush on a cashier at Woolworth's ("Mona"). Jim and Jackson recall an exceptionally dry and troublesome summer the previous year, when anything that could go wrong did, which segues into a story about how L.M. met Dolly Parton backstage after a concert and had a brief fling before he cut off the affair due to extenuating circumstances ("The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine"). At the Double Cupp, Rhetta and Prudie sing about wanting tips from their customers ("Tips") before reflecting on their childhood under an absent single mother, lamenting the emotional distance between each other ("Sisters"), then decide to shut down the diner for a time and take a trip ("I Need a Vacation"). The pump boys and Cupp sisters all head on a road trip to Florida in Bob's miraculously fixed Winnebago ("No Holds Barred"), where L.M. now relishes in the attention of the ogling "brown" onlookers ("Farmer Tan"). Bob calls the group, and Jim assures him that they will be returning soon ("Highway 57 (Reprise)"). Upon returning, they close the diner and gas station ("Closing Time").