Synopsis

 
"Do whatever it takes to get on down to see 'Lunch at the Piccadilly.'"
    Winston-Salem Journal
 
 
 
Everyone wondered, how could it be done? How would you make a musical out of a best-selling novel in which the leading characters are senior citizens living in a nursing home? But then it became clear that if anyone has a reason to sing - and lots to sing about - it’s those folks. Baby boomers, unite! At long last, there's a musical with the words 'Medicare' and 'Medicaid' in the song lyrics.

The show takes place on the rocking porch of the Rosehaven Convalesence Center in little Listre, N.C. Unable to keep up with the times, Rosehaven is being sold to Ballard College for use as a care facility for wealthy donors. Nothing is supposed to change, but Clara Cochran's already noticed a difference in the cornbread.  And the usually rowdy ex-Rev. L. Ray Flowers has lost the will to witness. Grim it is, but enter Lil Olive, whose recent broken hip means the end of her living-alone days. Worse yet, her nephew Carl now has to tell her to turn in her car keys.  Lil brings new life to the porch - along with a revolutionary new idea. 

When she realizes there’s a church across the street, and a preacher in the house, she and L. Ray unite the “porchers” to form The First Breakfast Club - so called because, “after 2,000 years of Last Suppers, we need a first breakfast to follow it up."  They’re not really sure how it works, but, says one of them, “It sure is nice to have something to get up for in the morning.”

 As the FBC gains members and momentum, the unruly residents begin to revolt, demanding changes at Rosehaven and finally erupting in a roof-raising rap. Along the way, everyone gets another chance. The “porchers” get a second life, the bachelor Carl falls for Rosehaven's director (and single mom) Anna Guthrie, Anna finds a surprising way to save Rosehaven, and Lil gets to drive again…briefly. As the sun sets on Rosehaven, we may wonder just how long the FBC will last, but we know it has given its members - and us - the chance, and the party, of a lifetime.
 
With 20 songs of almost every imaginable style, from blues to Broadway ballad, "Lunch at the Piccadilly" comes to the stage with all the warmth and humor of the novel...and more than a few surprises, in this new musical that one critic called silly and soulful.

 

"It has Edgerton and Craver's knack for taking a
Southern theme and making it universal."  
Fayetteville News & Observer



Lunch at the Piccadilly has a cast of 7 (4 m / 3 w) and a band of 3 (piano, bass, percussion).
 
It had its first production in 2006 at Cape Fear Regional Theatre, and was
then further developed by Playworks in productions: Parkway Playhouse,
2008, Festival Stage of Winston Salem, 2011, York Theatre Company
(concert performance), 2012.