Pearl's Place
2015 · Playhouse on the Square, Jacksonville, Illinois
Pearl's Place is a two-act musical comedy by Ken Bradbury set in a rundown diner on the outskirts of Coleman, Texas. Once the center of activity in town, Pearl's Place has fallen on hard times — and matters get worse when a major restaurant franchise opens directly across the street. The diner's founder, Pearl, now lives in a retirement home and can no longer remember the recipe for her famous "Pearl Jam," a concoction that may be the little restaurant's only hope of surviving the new competition.
The story belongs to the women who keep the place running: no-nonsense Maybelle and her caretaking sister Bobbie, both daughters of Pearl; Maybelle's headstrong daughter Reba, who dreams of getting out of a town that holds no future for her; and Lolita, a born-again waitress with a compulsive passion who imagines herself a missionary to Hooters. Bradbury wrote them as Texas-tough but big-hearted — women let down by the men in their lives who have made themselves better and stronger for it. The score leans heavily on Texas Swing and traditional honky-tonk, with Bradbury himself anchoring the three-piece pit band.
The show was a companion piece to Bradbury's earlier all-female food musical Potluck. "I guess it's fun to write about food," he said. "The secret to doing good theatre is having talented friends. These ladies have been knocking this show out of the park... I'm supposed to be directing the show, but I spend a lot of time just sitting and smiling at what's going on onstage."
Musical Numbers
Act I
- You Ain't Got Buns Like These — Bobbie, Maybelle, Lolita, Reba
- Green River Dreamin' — Bobbie, Maybelle, Lolita
- Praise God and Get 'er Done — Lolita and Reba
- Oh Mama — Bobbie and Maybelle
- Next Train to Houston — Reba and Bobbie
- I Believe in You — Maybelle and Reba
Act II
- Messin' with a Southern Gal — Bobbie, Maybelle, Reba
- A Cowboy Queen — Lolita and Bobbie
- They Call Me Crazy — Pearl
- Pearl's Place — the cast
Cast
- Pearl — Sylvia Burke
- Maybelle — Sherri Mitchell
- Bobbie — Carrie Carls
- Reba — Hope Cherry
- Lolita — Stephanie Soltermann
Production Notes
Pearl's Place was written and directed by Ken Bradbury and performed October 2–4 and 9–11, 2015, at the Playhouse on the Square (the Playhouse Theatre) in Jacksonville, Illinois. The production was sponsored by the Ken Bradbury Foundation, a not-for-profit group dedicated to supporting the local arts.
Bradbury served as production team lead and as one-third of the orchestra, playing alongside Jerry Kirbach (bass and guitar) and "Slammin'" Sam Roth (drums). Maryjane Million was production coordinator; Janet Long and Geri Ryan designed costumes; and the set was built by Sylvia Burke, Maryjane Million, Nathan Carls, and Rich McCoy.
Bradbury's journal, begun on a zero-degree morning on January 9, 2015, traces the show from idea to first draft over a snowbound Illinois winter. He started it as a "barroom musical," debating whether to set it in a mortuary or a bar, and credited much of the plot to inspiration that came to him on long drives. "It's remarkable what you can accomplish if you don't know what you're doing," he wrote after reaching page four on the very first day.