I was just taken on the emotional rollercoaster ride of my life. It seems these six lovely ladies, who graduated from high school just two years after me, decided to have a 20-year reunion on September 30, 1975. Those gals really knew how to party. We were all at the five and dime an' Sissy (Leigh Scarritt) brought the Lone Star. I don't know who brought the bourbon, but Stella May (Wendy Waddell) was swigging it like it were water. Man, that woman can drink.
Juanita (Jill Drexler) has been running the five and dime ever since her husband passed. Well, truth to tell, she was probably running it before then. She's that kinda woman. McCarthy, Texas, ain't too big a burg, and the women sorta control the goings on. Mona (Robin Crist), with all her psychosomatic sicknesses, was her usual cantankerous self, even pickin' on poor Edna Louise (Danielle Rhoads), who 'pears to be 'bout four or five months pg. Only Joe was a missin'.
As memories were rekindled, we drifted back ta 1955, and there was young Mona (Victoria Tecca), young Sissy (Zoe Katz), and the girl's favorite, Joe (Michael Cullen). If you recall, McCarthy, Texas is right close to where Warner Brothers filmed George Stevens' "Giant" just after the gals and Joe graduated. Well, ya know the story. Mona saw that hunk, Jimmy Dean, settin' on the steps of that old house front and next thing ya knowed, just 'bout the right time later, out popped Jimmy Dean II. Scandalous, I tell ya fer a small town.
Anyways in pops this stranger in ta the five and dime. Tall woman, attractive, drivin' one of them fancy sporty cars with no top. She's all gussied up in a white pants suit, actin' sorta aloof-like. Looked familiar in a way, but not quite. Oh my Gawd, it was Joe. He did one of them transgender operations and was made in ta a girl. Now Joe is called Joanne (Susan Stratton). Well, I never heard a such a thing!
Yes, Ed Graczyk's Come Back to the 5 and Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean does that to you. This cast is just a hair short of fantastic. Thanks to dialect coach Annie Hinton, the rural Texas twang rings true. They say that 90 percent of directing is casting. Mr. Ruff Yeager cast brilliantly. And you can't fault his direction as the ensemble works so well, it is easy to believe they've known each other for twenty-plus years. The younger players, circa 1955, seem to be the perfect early version of the 1975 folks.
Nick Fouch, along with Ruff Yeager and Dale Morris, produced a great set. I've sat on those stools at the soda fountain and had a burger in those old, somewhat tacky booths. The homage to Jimmy Dean framed in a string of Christmas-tree lights, a placard of sunglasses, and even the lighted painting of Jesus on the wall were all there. Yeager's props added a dimension of reality. His sound design transported us into the time perfectly. Mitchell Simkovski's lighting easily defined which era we were in, even as the two eras were on the stage at the same time and, occasionally, even in nearly the same space. Costume designer Jyothi Doughman was right on.
The emotional rollercoaster in Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean happens as their stories unfold. Shocking revelations, tragic honesty, and confessions make for an almost heartbreaking and definitely poignant play. Did Joe do the right thing? Will Mona ever be whole again? Will they meet again, in 20 more years? I suggest reserving early. Wow, what a show!
