Route 66 is a musical revue written by Roger Bean

Roger Bean

Roger Bean is the writer and director of the hit Off-Broadway Musical The Marvelous Wonderettes, now playing at the Westside Theatre on West 43rd Street in New York City. The Marvelous Wonderettes was first written for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, where Mr...

, creator of the Off-Broadway hit, The Marvelous Wonderettes

The Marvelous Wonderettes

The Marvelous Wonderettes is a musical comedy with a book by Roger Bean. It was recently played off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in New York. The show, which uses pop songs from the '50s and '60s as a vehicle to tell its story, pays homage to the high school Songleader squads of the 1950s...

. It is licensed by Steele Spring Productions. The show features 34 huge pop and country hits and takes us on a journey which begins in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and travels along the famed ‘Main Street of America’ to the coast of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. A large car radio delivers the audience to each new destination along the journey. DJs and actual vintage radio ads build excitement along the way!

Act I

At the top of the show, a radio DJ welcomes the audience to Chicago, and four service station attendants burst into The Texaco Star Theme. Each actor introduces himself to the audience in this string of hits: Let's Go For A Ride; Bring My Cadillac Back; Hot Rod Queen; Every Woman I Know. The station bells ring, and it's time to head out onto the open road with Route 66

Route 66 (song)

" Route 66", often rendered simply as "Route 66", is a popular song and rhythm and blues standard, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole, and was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling...

.

In St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 two men sing about The Mother Road; two others remember good times in their hometown in Used to Be; and a trucker has more than the road on his mind in the hilarious audience-pleaser Girl on the Billboard. Joplin brings us another trucker with Six Days on The Road and a pair of sportsters unable to keep up with an old geezer in BEEP BEEP. On our way to Oklahoma City we meet a bus driver picking up travelers on his way to T-U-L-S-A Straight Ahead; a trucker with a unique outlook on life (Roalaids, Doan's Pills & Preparation 'H); and a lonesome cowboy singing about those Oklahoma Hills.

Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

 brings us a law-man a little too big for his own britches in Long Tall Texan; an humorous look at a lovely Truck Stop Cutie; and the exciting Act One Finale – clogging and spooning to the audience favorite Truck Drivin' Man.

Act II

The second act begins with Willie Nelson

Willie Nelson

Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...

's On The Road Again, followed by a quick Gallop to Gallup with a load of unruly cows. Winona

Winona, Arizona

Winona is a small unincorporated community in Coconino County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Arizona.It is located along U.S. Route 66 and was made famous in the song " Route 66"...

 finds us in the middle of nowhere with the haunting The Long Red Line. In Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...

 we see our roadsters once again as they try to outdrive a Diesel On My Tail. In Kingman, Arizona

Kingman, Arizona

Kingman is located in a desert climate on the edge of the Mojave Desert, but its higher elevation and location between the Colorado Plateau and the Lower Colorado River Valley tempers summer high temperatures and contributes to winter cold and rare snowfall. Summer daytime highs reach above 90 °F ...

 two stoned hippies explain their philosophy on drug-running (Don't Haul Bricks on 66), only to be caught shortly thereafter in Barstow, California

Barstow, California

Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....

 by the Highway Patrol. San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

 brings us a wonderful a capella rendition of Roger Miller's King of The Road in which the audience is encouraged to sing along.

The California sound of the 60s bursts upon us as we reach the outskirts of Los Angeles in The Little Old Lady From Pasadena and Dead Man's Curve. In our final race toward the coast, we meet our crew at the Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...

Speedway in a medley of racing hits:SS 396; Move Out Little Mustang; Hey Little Cobra; GTO. The Finale brings it all full circle with a wonderful new rendition of Route 66.

But the evening's not complete without the exciting and energetic Encore that brings audiences to their feet: Fun, Fun, Fun/I Get Around.