"A soul-satisfying ... work of theatrical resourcefulness. The songs are shiny with tunefulness, hope and all-American inflections."  The New York Times

The Spitfire Grill was adapted from the film by Lee David Zlotoff, with a few alterations by James Valcq and Fred Alley, including a move of the story's location from Maine to their native Wisconsin.  Valcq wanted the music to portray a very “rural indigenous folk sound,” based on the prevalent Scandinavian and Celtic cultures found in Wisconsin.

In April 2000, David Saint, artistic director for the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey, called to book the musical for his theatre’s fall season, even though the show was not yet complete. This deadline forced the playwrights to finish it by November 2000. The show opened on time and premiered to critical acclaim.

The next year the musical was awarded the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters 2001 Richard Rogers Award for New American Musicals. But prior to receiving this award and amid preparations to open The Spitfire Grill in New York City, Alley died suddenly of a massive heart attack in Door County, Wisconsin.

Despite the shock of Alley’s sudden passing, followed by the disaster of September 11, the show’s opening off-Broadway caused a buzz within the theatre community. Directed again by David Saint, this production with Playwrights’ Horizons was selected as one of the five best musicals of 2001 by New York Magazine, and won award nominations by Drama Desk, Drama-League, and the New York Outer Critics Circle.

Since its debut in 2000, The Spitfire Grill has become one of the most produced plays in the nation.  It has enjoyed such regional productions in Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Laguna Beach, Duluth, Georgia, and Cedar City, Utah.
  (some information originally published by Utah Shakespearean Festival, Marlo M. Ihler)