CAMDEN—In Night Kitchen, John Burstein’s newest musical comedy, when the last patron leaves the restaurant and the chef switches off the lights, the inanimate objects —pots and cans, spoons and ladles — and foodstuffs come alive and take over.

As Slim Goodbody, winner of numerous Parent Choice Awards, Burstein conceived of this musical while working with the Meals on Wheels committee, trying to come up with a way his writing and directing talents could provide some revenue for the nonprofit.

What started off as a theatrical one-act vignette turned into 14 months of play-writing with 17 original musical numbers, he said. Its final result was Night Kitchen, an hour and a half play with 100 percent of the ticket sales benefiting Meals on Wheels in Rockland.

“I went around and interviewed a lot of chefs,” said Burstein. “I spent a lot of time with Brian Hill of Francine, James Hatch of Home Kitchen Cafe and Anne Marie Ahern of Salt Water Farm, to see about what it’s like to be a chef-owner of a restaurant and the problems and difficulties of running it.”

All of that research turned into his first musical for adult audience, exploring the inner workings of the restaurant business, and the importance food plays in people's lives. With imaginatively costumed characters from the kitchen coming alive and singing about their joys and sorrows, there is (like any restaurant) highs and lows on any given night.

“It’s a romantic comedy,” said Burstein. “You’ve got the chef trying to find his place in the world, trying to get his own cooking show, never happy with what he has, always focused on more. During the day all the things in the kitchen—the appliances, the utensils, the pots and pans and spoons soak up the energy of the people who work there. At night, it becomes the Night Kitchen and all of those things relive what they’ve absorbed from the people.”

Burstein’s fanciful characters also include a frying pan dreaming of flambe'ing, a dish and spoon who fall in love, and the Pasta Nostra Clan plotting to take over the kitchen.

Burstein has plans for the musical beyond the opening weekend.

“I’d like to take it down to Portland and put it on the Portland stage for a couple of weeks in the summer,” he said. “The other plan is to possibly travel to other Meals on Wheels around the state.”

The show takes place Dec. 9 and 10 at the Camden Opera House. Tickets are $25. Box Office opens at 6:30 p.m. - Auditorium at 7:00 p.m Fireside will offer their gourmet pizza, craft beer, wine and other refreshments beginning at 6:30 p.m. through intermission. FMI: The Night Kitchen

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com