Tomatoestried to Kill meBut Banjos Saved My Life
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Keith Alessi plays the banjo. Keith Alessi also tells jokes. However, Keith Alessi is not Steve Martin.
A banjo, the lean and kindly man tells us, draws a line to the past – back to circles of players whiling away pre-electric evenings in the Blue Ridge Mountains, back to the vestigial sound of bagpipes urging Scotsmen across a battlefield, back even to primeval times, with people sitting around campfires and vocalizing with grunts and hums.
The Frigid Festival at The Kraine Theater has been in existence for 16 years and what better month than February to put it on!
Audience Feedback
That was, without doubt, the finest fringe-style show I have ever seen. It was sensational in every important way. The subject was compelling. The script was carefully crafted: there was not one surplus word, and there were a number of clever connections to earlier moments. The use of tomatoes and banjos for life’s challenges and victories is nothing short of brilliant. It was poignant, moving, funny and uplifting. And your storytelling superb. It was so impressive."
Nice Loved this show! Riveting and profound. Live life to the fullest."
Thoughtful, touching biography. Being an expat Canadian living in NYC, having grown up at a similar time too, I was personally engaged yet the material was not only touching and graciously presented, the performance was poignant. Everyone in the audience felt it; there was a subtle unifying connection. It was uplifting and inexplicable definitely in the mix, making it a lasting contentment of shared experience.