As a 30th birthday present to myself, I bought tickets to see the Delaware Theatre Company production of Diner, a new musical written by Sheryl Crow. It's based on a 1982 movie called Diner, which starred such young up-and-coming actors as Kevin Bacon, Tim Daly, Daniel Stern, Paul Reiser, Ellen Barkin, Steve Gutenberg, and Mickey O'Rourke. Taking place at the end of 1959, the movie/musical follows a group of friends, all in their early 20's, as they navigate through the pitfalls and concerns of young adulthood.

 

The musical has Broadway hopes for 2017, and it was pretty amazing to watch something like this in Delaware...I think the show's beginning needs to be tweaked, but it picks up the further you go in, and I found myself really immersed in their stories. The show is narrated by Boogie (Derek Klena), a pretty boy and tough youth who bit off more than he could chew with a bet about the Baltimore Colts. He tells us about his group of friends that meet at the local diner, and we learn about their various problems and concerns. Shrevie (Noah Weisberg) is a newlywed to Beth (Erika Henningsen), and their marriage is on rocky ground as they're finding that they have nothing to talk about. Eddie (Ari Brand), nervous about his impending wedding to Elyse (Tess Soltau), has demanded that she pass a football trivia test in order to marry her. Billy (Aaron C. Finley), the one who moved away for graduate school, learns that his one-night stand with a platonic friend Barbara (Brynn O'Malley) has resulted in a pregnancy. Modell (Ethan Slater) is the group's comic relief. Finally, Fenwick (Matthew James Thomas) is a rich boy and constant screw-up who can't seem to figure out what he wants to do in his life.

 

The show is based around the idea that change is just around the corner- we're at the end of 1959, so the fifties are ending. These men are at the end of their childhood/beginning of their adulthood, wrestling with universal questions about whether to settle or not settle down, what they should do for a career, and whether or not their current life path is something they still want to be taking or if a change is needed. As for women, we see the hint of Women's Liberation that was to come in the 1960's. Beth struggles with her dissatisfaction over being a housewife, and wants to work outside of their home as a dance teacher. (She also contemplates having an affair with Boogie, who she once dated.) With Barbara, we see her conflict about her pregnancy with her desire to become a t.v. news anchor, as well as Bill pressuring her to marry him. It's the end of innocence, in more ways than one throughout this show.

I think the beginning of the show lacked a little bit of energy, but it picked up, especially once the women were introduced to contrast their stories against the men. In one memorable scene, Beth watches in shocked wonder as her husband goes off on how to properly catalog her records. In a funnier scene, we watch as Elyse tries to pass her football test to get the marital green light. With Barbara, we see her try to gently but firmly explain to Bill why marriage isn't the simple solution to her being "in trouble." (To use the parlance of the time.)

 

The group camaraderie between the guys feels authentic, which carries the show very well. I completely believed these guys were friends, and made me think about my own youth and some of the packs I ran around in, which guys that age tend to do. (Also, the diner that I used to hang out at when I was 21/22.) Sometimes, the best thing in the world is sit down and eat disco fries and talk to your friends late at night over anything and everything, and that's a feeling that show captured well. My favorite characters were probably Boogie and Beth. Both were characters that were in a rut, and needed to change something about their life. The scene where they contemplate having an affair was pretty well-done by both actors, and the reasoning for it (Beth wanting to feel wanted, Boogie getting a plan B for a bet he needs to win) were well-communicated by the actors.

 

My biggest complaint of the show is that I think some of the songs need to be a bit more memorable. It's a retro pastiche of late 50's, quite a few of which are very good, but I found myself longing for at least one actual popular song from that era,

. If Footloose can do it, why can't this? I thought Modell was a pretty underdeveloped character (I guess that was kind of the point, but it almost seems pointless to have the character), and I wish I could've seen more with Billy and Barbara's characters. Also, some of the choreography was a little clunky, but that's something that can always be fine-tuned.
All in all, it was a pretty fun experience and I'm thinking about trying to see the show again. (If not this production, another one.) I really do hope this one can make its way to Broadway!