MOUNT CARROLL – Timber Lake Playhouse, the professional summer theatre of northwest Illinois, opens the 2017 season on May 5 with Pump Boys and Dinettes. The popular musical will play over two weekends for eight performances only. The musical continues to play to sold out houses around the country, 35 years after it’s Broadway premier.

Drive a ways outta town, somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, North Carolina and you’ll come to a filling station run by L. M. and Jim. Next door, is the Double Cupp Diner, operated by Rhetta and Prudie Cupp. To look at it, you wouldn’t know that this little stop on Highway 57 is where all the action is, but trust us – once the boys get those guitars and bass fiddle revved up, you won’t want to be anywhere else. Pump Boys and Dinettes is a countrified musical packed with highly entertaining toe-tappers such as “Drinkin’ Shoes”, “Farmer Tan” and “The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine!”

Artistic Director James Beaudry says of the cast of actor-musicians, “When we decided to produce Pump Boys and Dinettes, I knew our audiences would love the show—and it hasn’t been done at TLP in over 20 years. But I also knew that casting it was the key to its success. We’ve assembled a dream-team of Chicago performers—most of whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with elsewhere—and I can’t wait to bring them out to our audiences in Mount Carroll.”

Longtime TLP favorite Courtney Crouse (Big River, Always Patsy Cline) directs Pump Boys and Dinettes with a cast of six including stand-out Chicago performers Patrick Martin (Jim), Veronica Garza (Prudy), Jacquelyne Jones (Rhetta), Jordan Golding (Jackson) and Cody Siragusa (Eddie). Aaron Benham, who music directed Always Patsy Cline at the playhouse last fall, completes the cast as L.M. and music directs.

On Saturday, May 20th, the playhouse will present Neil Diamond and Elvis for one night only featuring Steve Richards Tributes. Richards has performed all over the country including a concert at Wrigley Field to nearly 35,000 and performed a duet on the stage of the Wynn Las Vegas with Garth Brooks. The performance begins at 7:00 pm with a cash bar opening at 6:30.

The Magic Owl Children’s Theatre will present Charlotte’s Web from Tuesday, May 9 through Friday May 12 at 10:00 and 1:00. The Children’s Literature Association named this “the best American children’s book of the past two hundred years,” and the stage play captures the joy and touching story of friendship in a thrilling presentation that will enchant audiences. Tickets are only $6.00.

Timber Lake Playhouse is selling subscriptions for next summer’s 56th season Subscription Series. June 2017 will bring new productions of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, Eugene O’Neill’s Ah Wilderness!, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, an adaptation of Moliere’s “Les Fourberies de Scapin” entitled Scapino! by Jim Dale, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, and Little Shop of Horrors. Subscriptions as well as single tickets for all six shows are available now both online and through the Box Office.

Tickets for Pump Boys and Dinettes are $17-$25. The show is not part of the playhouse’s summer subscription season. Tickets for Neil Diamond and Elvis are only $20. For show times and to purchase tickets, visit www.timberlakeplayhouse.org or call the Box Office at 815-244-2035. The Box Office is open from 10:00 – 3:00 Monday through Friday. The playhouse is located at 8215 Black Oak Road in rural Mount Carroll.

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