Oscar’s Restaurant will be Joyce DeWitt’s destination Saturday morning when she comes to the Tenth Street restaurant to sign autographs and have breakfast.
“She came here this morning and ate,” Oscar’s owner Michael Dunlow said, “and saw all the people here.”
Dunlow said DeWitt will be at the restaurant from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Saturday morning is one of the biggest days for Oscar’s, as the restaurant feeds anywhere from 500 to 600 people after opening at 4:30 a.m.
DeWitt, one of the stars of 70s hit Three’s Company, is not the only star to go to Oscar’s. The restaurant walls have photos of many stars that have been there, Dunlow said.
While the aim of the visit is to have breakfast and sign autographs, it is also to promote her upcoming Christmas musical at the Royal Palace Theatre next week.
DeWitt plays a Waffle House waitress in the Christmas musical comedy, A Scattered, Smothered & Covered Christmas, for four performances.
Many local celebrities will join her on stage as well including Tia Bedwell, Brady Martin, Will Cox, Linda Casper-Clarke, Melvin Poythress, Jonathan O’Geary, Andy Dickerson and a children’s chorus made up of six surrounding counties.
In addition to a portion of every ticket going to help the City of Roanoke Rapids reduce the debt they still have on the $20 million theatre it built in 2006, proceeds from the production are benefitting the Roanoke Avenue Business Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing Roanoke Avenue business district.
The play, written in 2004 by Henderson native and theatre manager Kaine Riggan, takes place in a Tennessee Waffle House on Christmas Eve as people of all different walks of life are getting snowed in for the night. DeWitt plays a waitress named Rita who is actually dead and somewhere between this life and the next, charged with the task of handing out good deed assignments to people who have to perform more good deeds before they can move on.
Music for the show was written by Randy Travis, T. Graham Brown and other Nashville songwriters including North Carolina composer Jennifer Prince, who penned a memorable black gospel number for the show called Packed Up, Prayed Up and Ready To Go.
DeWitt is one of three professional actors who came to town to join the local talent pool for the show, which started rehearsals on the cast November 19. The neighboring Hilton Garden Inn donated the lodging for these actors for the entire run of the play.
Performances are Tuesday, December 11 at 7 p.m., Thursday, December 13 and Friday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m. with a special matinee on Thursday, December 13 at 3 p.m., which is half price for seniors. Regular price for tickets is $25 and may be purchased 24 hours a day at the theatre, by phone at 252-536-5577 or online at www.RoyalPalaceTheatre.com.
Teachers and their families pay only $7 for Tuesday night, which has been underwritten by the State Employee’s Credit Union as a Teacher Appreciation Performance.
DeWitt will be available after each performance in the lobby signing autographs and greeting ticketed guests.
