Space Trek! (Don't shoot me, I'm the piano player...)

Space. 

The Final Frontier.

Etc. 

Etc.

For a large percentage of my elementary school years, Star Trek (The Original Series) was on at 4 pm, through the miracle of syndication. Was syndication the birth of modern nostalgia?

Discuss.

The joy in the air at Prairie Dog Playhouse is palpable. From the laughs of the children that sometimes border on screams, to the giggles of the adults who can forget about everything for a while, to the groans at the amazing puns, to the squirms of the first-time attendees who are unfamiliar with the uncertainty of audience participation. You can feel it. It's a real thing. It matters, perhaps now more than ever, to laugh and sigh at silliness and slapstick comedy. 

And it's my job to make it musical.

"Sing on the deal, you're that piano guy..."

-Billy Joel, paraphrased

We start with a number of songs from the fabric of popular culture parodied in order to apply them to the script. Artists whose works are currently being mangled by myself and the cast include: Dead Eye Dick, Alanis Morrisette, David Bowie, Bay City Rollers, and tunes from TV shows The Jeffersons and Looney Tunes, as well as the song from a certain commercial that shall not be mentioned by name. But this is only beginning. 

The rest of the time, and this is where the real juice is for me, is in composing a live soundtrack or score for the action on and off stage. Punctuating the pratfalls, accentuating the oddness, ratcheting up the tension, gooeying up the love scenes; these are but a few of my tasks. I make the bad guys badder and the good guys more goody. To use a term first made aware to me by Saint Francis of Zappa, I am charged with creating 'harmonic aroma'. Themes or songs explored in the current show include but are not limited to: 

Princess Leia's Theme

The Captain Of Her Heart - Double

Mr. Roboto

a song from the 1st episode of The Muppet Show

The list could go on and on and on and it doesn't even mention the original compositions which wind their way through, in and around the scripted material. You have to see it to believe your ears. Like Frederick Scott says "It's never the same show twice...." 

The show runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from April 17- May 9.There's an OPEN DRESS REHEARSAL tonight that just so happens to be FREE!

Check out some links:

Free Dress Rehearsal Tonight!!! 

Space Trek info, dates, and times!!! 

Prairie Dog Productions Home!!! 

This is so much fun. Come out bring the kids or your friends or both. 208-336-PETE or iveseenelvis@yahoo.com for tickets.