BRUNSWICK – Maine State Music Theatre’s current production of “Pump Boys and Dinettes” is a blue-plate special of good, down-home country and bluegrass music, which plays more like a concert than musical theater.

There’s no real script here, just an assortment of characters. Think of “Pump Boys” as a slice of Americana at a time when somebody pumped 32-cents-per-gallon gas into your Chevy sedan, and nobody referred to a burger and fries as “fast food.”

Enter the theater and you enter the world of the Double Cupp Diner, run by Prudie Cupp (Marie Pressman) and Rhetta Cupp (Riette Burdick), ready to make your pit stop on Highway 57 a relaxing one. The “Pump Boys” – Jim (Ed Romanoff), L.M. (Brian Cimmet, who does double duty as music director), Jackson (Dan Wright) and the ever-quiet Eddie (Chris Blisset) – are ready to serve your automotive needs, though they’re never quite sure when your broken-down Winnebago is going to be ready.

There’s an easy, down-home feeling established before the show even begins, as all six of the actors are onstage early, chatting with the audience.

Goodbye, Dolly

And then the music begins. Keyboards, guitars, a bass, an accordion and a harmonica are essential ingredients in the bluegrass recipe, mixed in with superb vocals and kitchen utensil instruments. The music winds its way through many familiar themes: fishing, the search for a good man (and woman), family, and such necessities of life as vacations and “tipping.”

All six actors work well together and have the chance to play on a set that is meticulously designed by Judy Gailen. Every detail is there, from the 1950s style menu boards, the lunch counter stools, the old license plates on the wall and the politically incorrect girlie calendar that used to be the trademark of America’s gas stations.

But this show is about music, tunes that will get you clapping your hands.

Cimmet, as L.M., is a wild man on the piano, but also a real charmer in two of the best songs, “Serve Yourself,” a blues number, and “The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine.”

Pressman and Burdick blend vocally and emotionally on the duet “Sisters”; they’re wonderfully animated in the number “Tips” (make sure you give at least 15 percent); and Burdick shines in a bluesy rendition of “Be Good or Be Gone.”

Romanoff holds the evening together with his guitar-picking talents. He especially shines in the a capella “Fisherman’s Prayer,” and he touches your heart in the ballad “Mamaw.”

Wright and Blisset perform lead guitar and bass while creating great supporting characters.

It is early in the summer theater season, but Maine State Music Theatre is kicking off its 2004 season with a talented cast of performers who act, sing, dance, play outrageous music and have a flair for comedy. It’s all there at “Pump Boys and Dinettes” on Highway 57, temporarily located in Brunswick through Saturday, June 26.

For ticket information, call the box office at 725-8769 or go online to www.msmt.org.

Dan Marois is owner and producer of Main Street Entertainment and Mystery for Hire. He welcomes reader comments at [email protected].