Amazing coincidences! Pictured are Gregory and me with Gregory's best friend from college John Schimmel. The Schimmel family became best friends to Gregory and me over the years and we organized John and Maureen's wedding at the Redfield House in the Grove in Glenview, Illinois.
John is father to Gabe Schimmel who is responsible for bringing ALZHEIMER'S: A Love Story to Chapman University and 90 worldwide film festivals and 35+ awards including two from the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival.
John was writer and actor in Pump Boys and Dinettes, a musical that was on Broadway in 1982/83. Gregory and I were in the audience for several of the NYC performances.
A revival concert of Pump Boys is being performed at Feinstein's 54 Below in NYC on July 22 and I will be in the audience. Today is the day I bought my tickets and this photograph shows up on Facebook. Meant to be? Etherial? Mystical? Magical?
More Information about Pump Boys and Dinettes: Pump Boys And Dinettes, a band as well as a show, ran for 577 performances on Broadway in 1982-83 while earning a Tony nomination for Best Musical. The original cast—Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Jim Wann, John Foley, John Schimmel, and the late Mark Hardwick—were downtown New Yorkers with Southern musical roots who created “a singular mixture of country-pop concert and musical theatre… [the show] doesn’t merely celebrate the value of friendship and life’s simple pleasures, it embodies them” (Stephen Holden, The New York Times).
Now, for the first time since their Broadway run, the creators of this pioneering work for actor-musicians will be onstage together to play and sing their score and tell their stories. Bob Stillman will join on piano, and yes—there will be a Pump Boys raffle! It’s been 37 years – now join the original Pump Boys & Dinettes for an unforgettable reunion concert!
