Director returns to his roots with Drury Lane's 'Pump Boys'

Shawn Stengel, the director of Drury Lane Theatre's revival of "Pump Boys And Dinettes" (now running in previews), has spent much of his professional life working on various productions of this crowd-pleasing musical - either as a performer, a director or a music director.

The funny thing is that when Stengel was first hired to appear in the show, in 1987, he wasn't even focusing on finding work in theater, much less trying to land a role in a show that would pay his rent for so many years.

"I was living in L.A. at the time," Stengel says. "I had a friend who went to Julliard and he moved to L.A. ... I was living in Minnesota; it was December and it was freezing. My friend said, 'Why don't you move out here?' I went out there for the adventure - and because it wasn't cold."

While he was there, he heard about an audition for "Pump Boys" being held in Los Angeles by the Chicago producing team of Cullen, Heneghan and Platt. At the time, the three-person producing organization was running two productions of the show, one in Chicago - which was a big hit at the Apollo Theatre - and another in Los Angeles.

The musical revue pays tribute to life on the road. The "Pump Boys" pump gas; the "Dinettes" serve pie and coffee at the diner next door.

"My friends said, 'You have to do it,'" Stengel says. "I said, 'Come on. I don't know the music. And I am the only person in L.A. who doesn't have a head shot.'"

Even so, Stengel was hired as an understudy. But soon after, an opening came up in the Chicago cast.

"I had never done the show," Stengel says. "I had never even been in a rehearsal, and they invited me to join the cast in Chicago."

Stengel performed once in L.A. The next day, he flew to Chicago.

"I was supposed to be in Chicago 10 to 12 weeks," Stengel says. "I'm still here."

Stengel ended up performing in the last 21/2 years of the show. When the Chicago run ended, he began working on other productions of the show across the country. Sometimes he would act, sometimes direct the music. After a while he began directing productions.

"Fortunately, the show ('Pump Boys') is so difficult to cast I kept getting asked to appear in the production," Stengel says. "It is such a fun show. And I loved that sort of picking up and going out of town for six to eight weeks in some other city."

After a solid decade of "Pump Boys," Stengel wanted to branch out. "My last production was 10 years ago," he says.

In the years since, Stengel has worked on a number of prominent touring productions, including the national tours of "Crazy for You" and "Cats." For the last 21/2 years he has been the music director for the long-running, recently closed production of "Wicked."

Then, last fall, he began to speak with the powers that be at Drury Lane about returning to his "Pump Boys" roots.

How has it been to return to this familiar show? "It has been delightful," Stengel says. "The rehearsal process has been unbelievably relaxed."

While he's done "Pump Boys" many times, "I have discovered I don't always remember what we did where in the show. And that has freed us up to make other creative choices."

"Plus we hired young bucks for the show. It feels like we are handing the show off to the next generation."

• "Pump Boys and Dinettes" opens Thursday, June 4, and runs through Aug. 2, at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. For tickets, call (630) 530-0111 or (312) 559-1212 or visit ticketmaster.com or drurylaneoakbrook.com.