The Spitfire Grill

by James Valcq, Fred Alley, Lee David Zlotoff

Music and Book by James Valcq, Lyrics and Book by Fred Alley
Based on the film by Lee David Zlotoff

Musical Drama

Characters: 3 male, 4 female

Unit Set

A feisty parolee follows her dreams, based on a page from an old travel book, to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. It is for sale but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow full and things are definitely cookin' at the Spitfire Grill.

"A soul satisfying...work of theatrical resourcefulness. A compelling story that flows with grace and carries the rush of anticipation. The story moves, the characters have many dimensions and their transformations are plausible and moving. The musical is freeing. It is penetrated by honesty and it glows." -The New York Times

"Soulful...The amiable country flavored tunes and lyrics are rendered with the kind of conviction and expertise that make them transcendent. What in normal times would be a joy is, in these troubled ones, sheer nourishment." -New York Magazine

"Soaring melodies!...Well before the show reaches its conclusion, many...city slickers in the audience may be ready to enter Percy's raffle." -The Wall Street Journal

"An abundance of warmth, spirit and goodwill!...Some of the most engaging and instantly infectious melodies I've heard in an original musical in some time." - USA Today

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction, Drama

84 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[✰ Liz ✰ · Rating 4 out of 5]

~Script research~

[Lisa Tollefson · Rating 5 out of 5]

My local theater will be doing this one in March, and the director asked me to do the sound, so I read this to see what was involved. Not much, actually, but I really enjoyed reading it. Most musicals - and many plays - don't read well, but once they're into rehearsal they start to come alive. This one even reads quite well. The story is told in the dialogue as much as in the music, and I'm looking forward to it.

Perchance, better known as Percy, is just out of prison and moves to a small town in MN. The sherriff gets her a job in The Spitfire Grill, the only place to eat in town. Hannah, the owner, has been trying to sell the place for years with no results. Percy comes up with the idea of raffling it off and the next thing you know, mail arrives by the wheelbarrow full.

Based on the movie by the same name, this musical has great characters and a story just crazy enough to be real.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A local theatre is doing The Spitfire Grill in spring 2024; I had seen a production in Pittsburgh years ago, but read the perusal script to refresh my memory. The musical follows the plot of the original film fairly well, other than moving the setting from Maine to Wisconsin. The climax and ending are completely different, though, and much more happy and hopeful than the film. It's a little abrupt in the musical, though, and I wish there had been a little more time spent wrapping things up.

The dialogue leads naturally into the songs, which are lovely but not especially memorable. On paper it seems hokey, but in person the musical is emotional and moving.

[Mike Schuh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and characters. Should have been a straight show! At times, the music distracts from the story and drama!

[Ilyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

So looking forward to working on this beautiful piece.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this small cast, small town, big feels musical!

Beautiful story about togetherness, uniting behind a common goal, and helping each other in times of need.

[Megara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update: it appears that the more you engage with this play, the more emotional pull it has. While controlling the lighting board during performances, I found myself crying during a handful of scenes. This isn't just happening to me. The actors told me they also find this play moves them to tears the more they perform it. So, I moved it up from two stars to three stars.

_________________________

I put aside that I do not like (most) musicals to give an honest rating. Also, I have not seen the original film the musical is based on.

The play's plot has potential, but instead of developing the plot into something unique, it's overflowing with cliches and worn-out characters. It's as if someone took cookie-cutter plotlines and poured the batter into them.

One of the characters (Caleb, Hannah's nephew) is developed but then cut out of the rest of the play. His violent rage is brushed off by his wife: "Oh, he'll be fine." Fine? Caleb's fragile masculinity is triggered around every corner.

The end of the play felt sudden and did not wrap up all the loose ends. The parts of the storyline that the playwrights did wrap up were lukewarm and cheesy.

If you like musicals and find a venue willing to host its performance, by all means, go and (hopefully) enjoy.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm on a play reading committee and have a few musicals to read in the next week or so.

I knew the rough outline of this, but have never seen/heard it. I listened to the music yesterday morning, read it thru last night and then listened to the music again this afternoon. I think it is cute that it has a Wisconsin base, but overall I found the plot too melodramatic and seems a bit heavy. It’s got the whole rape/pregnancy/murder/ex-con story, the love story between Joe and Percy (downplayed), and Caleb as an emasculated man (representing, of course, the whole town) which seems to be enough. Throwing Eli in as the Vietnam deserter just made me groan. I know that musicals are kitschy (probably partly why I tend not to like them overall), but this was just too much for me.

I’m not a country music fan so I didn’t really care for the music. I thought the opening song (rather than being catchy or fun) was just too operatic. Shoot the Moon, Come Alive Again, and Out of the Frying Pan were fun, but Sunrise (and not just because of the words) reminded me of Sunrise, Sunset from fiddler.

[TheKrazySheep · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost never read plays, just not my thing. But having seen the movie, I wanted to read a bit more about the story itself. All the singing in the play was a bit overwhelming and distracting. The ending is very different - a lot more hopeful in some sense, but the beginning and middle carried through from the play to the movie very well. I got a bit of a thrill seeing that they used some of the exact same dialogue. So overall I gave it 4 stars - I don't know enough about the genre to really comment on the quality of the play but I will say that the one explicit thing they mention in the play I found was unnecessary and liked that it was not mentioned in the movie.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a stunning story of redemption. There are so many surprises and plot twists and let-downs, but the one thing that somehow remained throughout was hope. I felt it was an extremely accurate depiction of life- how we lose hope and something comes along that restores it and reminds us of it forever. Sometimes that's a pet, sometime's it's religion, and sometimes it's a troubled soul named Percy Talbott. Absolutely beautiful to watch live- if you have the chance, do it.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one sweet musical. I have still never seen the movie adaptation, as I don't want to fuse memories of one with the other. Besides, the movie isn't a musical and the magic might be lost as a result.

I still use this as a piece to pull audition material from on occasion.

[Janine Corman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the music and I love the characters. Wish me luck when I audition to play Shelby next month.

[Kim]

this is was made into a movie