Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (play)
| Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Ed Graczyk |
| Characters | Juanita Sissy Mona Joe Sue Ellen Stella May Edna Louise Martha Alice Ann Clarissa Joanne |
| Date premiered | September 1976 |
| Place premiered | Players' Theater, Columbus, Ohio |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Comedy-drama |
| Setting | A five-and-dime store in Texas, 1955 and 1975 |
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is a 1976 play by Ed Graczyk, originally performed at the Players' Theater in Columbus, Ohio. Despite the interpretation of the name in the title, it refers to the legendary "Rebel Without a Cause", James Dean, as opposed to Jimmy Dean, the country-western singer who had a hit in 1961 with Big Bad John. The play, in fact, revolves around a James Dean fan club that reunites at a Texas five-and-dime store.
In 1982, filmmaker Robert Altman directed both a Broadway version at the Martin Beck Theater and a film adaptation of the same name. Altman's version of the play was not well-received with critics at the time.
In Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, an all-female fan club called the Disciples of James Dean meets at a Woolworths five-and-dime branch in McCarthy, Texas. The group reunites in 1975 to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Dean's death. (In 1955, the actor was filming Giant in Marfa, not far from where the store stands.)
Ed Graczyk originally wrote and directed Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean for the Players' Theater in Columbus, Ohio, which also produced it. At the time of the Ohio production, he said of its development:
Jimmy Dean had a short run in New York City in 1980. Early that same decade, while turning his attention from Hollywood to the stage, filmmaker Robert Altman acquired the rights to Graczyk's work. While securing options on another two works—The Hold-Up by Marsha Norman and The Diviners by Jim Leonard—he negotiated to direct Jimmy Dean on Broadway, with the intention to film it as a theatrical release. He also spent US$850,000 of his own money bringing it to Broadway.
...
Wikipedia