THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502150188
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
See the assistant commonwealth's attorney shake that thing.
Watch as she goes into the audience for a vamping session while singing about ``The Best Man.''
Elizabeth J. Hovell is taking the daily drive from Norfolk, where she is an assistant commonwealth's attorney, to Smithfield, where she is Prudie, a short-skirted waitress.
She and her partner, Rhetta, played by Nancy Pile-Griffin, run the Double Cupp Diner, located just a few feet from the L M Mobil Service Station, which is run by L.M. and Jim - a couple of good ole boys.
Together, the guys and gals are ``The Pump Boys and Dinettes,'' a Smithfield Little Theatre offering running Feb. 23 to 26, March 2 to 5 and March 9 to 11.
It is mostly music, mostly country, but with a happy, foot-tapping attitude anyone can enjoy.
One of the things you cannot help but enjoy is the amazingly realistic set occupying floor space at the Cotton Gin Theatre - a service station straight out of Smalltown, U.S.A. and a diner complete with large menu, pictures of food, countertop and a working coffee machine.
Coffee, etc., will be sold from there during intermission.
In the middle of everything is the guitar, keyboard and drums all fairly well hidden from view.
Those are not the only instruments you will hear. The Juilliard-inspired Dinettes perform in the key-of-? on the grater and the rolling pin.
Hovell rolls in from Norfolk, after a hectic day in office or court, for her first part in a long time. The actress credits her Navy husband, Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hovell, with a lot of support.
``We saw the audition announcement in the paper,'' she said. ``It's my entrance back to theater.''
The woman portraying Hovell's co-worker at the Double Cupp, Nancy Pile-Griffin, is wed to Clay Griffin, one of the service station guys. His co-worker at the Mobil unit is Trey Gwaltney.
A host of other colorful guys `n' gals, like Mary Jane and Snake, run in and out of the diner and service station, characters who break out in song at the shake of a pig's foot.
The songs are clever and joyful. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS
Clay Griffin and ``dinettes'' Nancy Pile-Griffin, standing, and
Elizabeth J. Hovell share the latest scuttlebutt in a scene from
``Pump Boys and Dinettes.''
by CNB