A Musical Trip Travels ‘Route 66’ into Ramona Mainstage Theatre

By Ruth Lepper

Traveling the highway from Chicago to Los Angeles has caught on with songwriters and playwrights. Such is the case with the musical, “Route 66,” currently in production at Ramona Mainstage Theatre.

Director Brian Wells has gathered a talented quartet of male singers to perform as the “Men from Texaco.”

The play, written by Roger Bean, is set in a small-town service station with the mechanics boasting, “We sing, we dance and we fix your car, too.” Singing is what they do best.

The two dozen or so tunes are tied in with traveling the highways, truck stops, hot rods, Cadillacs, law enforcement and everything in between. Audience participation calls for a volunteer to be the “Hot Rod Queen” and another for the “Girl on the Billboard.”

“Route 66” is a fast-paced show with clever skits, including one with a much-needed rest stop with “Rolaids, Doan’s Pills & Preparation H,” sung by Spencer Moses.

Familiar tunes, such as “King of the Road,” “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” “On the Road Again” and the title song are worked in with some that might not be as well known: “Truck Stop Cutie,” “Truck Drivin’ Man,” “Gallop to Gallop” and “Don’t Haul Bricks on 66,” among others.

Starring in “Route 66” along with Moses are Paul James Kruse, Robert J. Townsend and Scott Dreier, all popular performers throughout San Diego County.

While studying theater arts at San Diego State University, Moses served as composer and musical director for educational outreach shows. He has performed in several shows for Lamb’s Players Theatre, including “Smoke on the Mountain,” “South Pacific” and “Festival of Christmas.” Moses appeared in “The Game of Love and Chance” and “Lucky Stiff” at Vista’s Moonlight Amphitheatre and in “Company” on the stage of Starlight Musical Theatre in Balboa Park. When not performing in musical theater productions, Moses acts in independent firms and is a substitute teacher at Point Loma High School in San Diego.

Townsend is another veteran of Starlight Musical Theatre, where he starred as Joe Hardy in “Damn Yankees.” He has performed as Sparky in “Forever Plaid” and was one of the stars in “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” at San Diego Repertory Theatre, where he also played Fred in “A Christmas Carol.”

Townsend has many theater credits in the United States and has toured extensively throughout Europe and South America.

Kruse was in the national touring company as the Big Bopper in “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story” after it played at San Diego Repertory Theatre. He also played in San Diego Repertory Theatre’s “A Christmas Carol” and in more than 40 productions in San Diego County in the past 15 years, including “Company,” “Triumph of Love,” “Sweeney Todd” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel” at Starlight Musical Theatre. He has performed in numerous theaters on the East Coast and in Canada, as well as on the West Coast.

Dreier starred as Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” in San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles counties and performed for two years as Smudge with the San Diego company of “Forever Plaid.” He has directed and performed in Moonlight Amphitheatre shows in Vista and played Papa Who in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” at the Old Globe Theatre.

“Route 66” is a co-production of Cheryl and Orrin Day, owners of Ramona Mainstage Theatre, and Music & Theatre Artist of San Diego. Working with Orrin Day, Wells said they wanted to bring a show to the Ramona stage that could hold its own in an open-ended run and have the potential of bringing back repeat audiences.

“You’re going to find those people who go to see a show several times,” Wells added.

They keep coming back

During the first week the show was open, Wells said that one couple from San Diego was in the audience for at least three performances and said they were going to come back every weekend.

The show is on a six-month contract and could be extended for a longer run, Wells said.

Mainstage Theatre has hosted amateur shows since the remodeled movie theater opened in 2003. This is the first time it has brought in actors and stage crew affiliated with Actors Equity Association and Screen Actors Guild, the nationwide unions of professional actors and stage managers.

Wells has served as the artistic director of Starlight Musical Theatre for 15 years, often directing and performing in its summer productions. He is the recipient of the Craig Noel Excellence in Theatre Award from the San Diego Critics Circle for outstanding musical production for “Sweeney Todd” in 2004 and “The Scarlet Pimpernel” in 2003.

Choreographer and co-director David Brannen also has a long history with Starlight Musical Theatre as well as with numerous theater companies nationwide. He choreographed and starred as the Grinch in “How the Grinch Store Christmas” at the Old Globe Theatre and received a Craig Noel Award for Excellence in Theatre from the San Diego Critics Circle in 2003 for his choreography of “Cabaret” at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach.

Performances of “Route 66” are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $28 and $32, with discounts for groups of 25 or more.

The theater is at 626 Main St., Ramona. For more information, call the box office at (760) 789-7008.