WINSTON-SALEM — A play set in a nursing home may sound like a downer, right?
Not in the hands of North Carolina novelist Clyde Edgerton, songwriter Mike Craver and director Steve Umberger.
The trio, who brought Edgerton’s novel “Lunch at the Piccadily” to the stage in 2006, have reunited for a new adaptation of the poignant and funny nursing home musical.
Festival Stage of Winston-Salem, a new professional theater company that operates in affiliation with the N.C. Shakespeare Festival, plans 18 performances through Feb. 20 at the Hanesbrands Theatre in the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in Winston-Salem.
The play, which is part musical comedy, part drama, and the novel on which it is based arose from Edgerton’s own experiences of moving his beloved aunt into a nursing home.
“There’s a lot of Clyde (Edgerton) in this novel,” said Craver, who also performs in the musical as Eli Greyson, a mystery man whose role is pivotal to the plot.
“Lunch at the Piccadilly” — so named for the cafeteria restaurant chain that once had locations throughout North Carolina — takes place mainly on the front porch of Rosehaven Convalescence Center in fictional Listre, N.C. The nursing home is in danger of being sold when a new resident, Lil Olive (Bo Thorp), moves in and starts rabble-rousing. She unites the residents in a scheme that will save the home.
“Nursing homes house extreme loneliness; they also house humor and heroism. Families of nursing-home residents, sometimes suffering from despair, are reluctant to talk about that despair,” Edgerton said. “I decided to write a nursing home novel. And I decided to write a play inspired by the novel.”
Edgerton’s novels have been adapted for stage before, but “Piccadilly” is the first play he has scripted.
He collaborated with Craver, a Drama Desk Award winner who was a member of the Red Clay Ramblers for 12 years, on the music and lyrics. Together, they penned songs that have been characterized as irreverent and human, silly and soulful. With titles such as “How Do You Tell ’Em They Can’t Drive No More?,” “How Does a Glass Eye Work?” and “Home Is Where the Heart Stays,” the music spans a variety of styles — blues, Broadway ballads, folk and even rap.
“This is the only musical that I know that has the words Medicare and Medicaid in the lyrics of a song,” Umberger said.
“Clyde and Mike have a really splendid way of preserving the reality of these situations” while also injecting humor, he said.
Umberger also has been instrumental in developing “Lunch at the Piccadilly” for the stage. He directed the inaugural production in 2006 in Fayetteville.
Since its debut, “Lunch at the Piccadilly” has evolved through the response of audiences and the input of actors and others on the creative team.
The script, now in its fifth draft, includes just seven characters, far fewer than appear in Edgerton’s novel or the original stage production. The ending takes a twist that differs from the book.
Umberger, who is resident director for Festival Stage of Winston-Salem, said developing new plays is one of his favorite things because it challenges the creativity of everyone involved.
“You can’t know about a play until it’s living,” he said. “The process is fun. It calls on everybody to be their most creative selves.”
Contact Amy Joyner at amyjoyn@bellsouth.net
