Get into the Fever
One of the big questions I have about Sandbox Radio is: Why ever isn’t it broadcast by NPR? After days of pondering this question, an answer still hasn’t popped into my head.
Their latest delightful live radio podcast, Spring Fever, took place at the Falls Theatre at ACT Theatre. Produced by Leslie Law and Richard Ziman, this old-fashioned radio show had short plays, comedy sketches, music, fake PSA’s, and was one of the most amusing theatrical events I have been privileged to enjoy in a very long time. Its humor was of the highest order and it was full of local references to our beloved politically correct Seattle.
The high points of the evening were: A musical dramatization of A.A. Milne’s The King’s Breakfast with an appropriately peevish Jason Marr playing the King, Megan Ahiers playing the Dairy Maid, Laura Kenny as the Cow and Leslie Law as the Queen. It was imaginatively staged and adapted by Richard Ziman with adorable music by percussionist Dan Tierney, pianist José Gonzales and bassist Dave Pascal This version was every bit as endearing to an adult audience as it was when we read it as children
The PSA about Coal Free Washington by Vincent Delaney brought the house down with its jokes about how green Seattle is. ( and is not) Clarence William’s song Right Key but the Wrong Keyhold, sung raunchily by Leslie Law, had so many sexually charge metaphors it made the 60’s look tame.
The funniest, but also the saddest most endearing sketch was Happiness is Like A Beautiful , Shiny Red Apple by Wayne Rawley. Two girlfriends, played by Sara Porkalob and Megan Ahiers go to a bar to meet guys. Sara Porkalob’s character is confident, outgoing, and very socially competent in a bar, her friend, named Sarah, is the opposite, shy, insecure and oddly perceives all her assets negatively.
At the bar they meet two male friends just like them, played by Shawn Belyea and Jason Mar. As the confident friends try to force the other two to engage in suitable up-beat cheerful bar talk, the other two make a number of faux-pas exposing their fragile inner selves. Contrary to all bar-pick-up-etiquette, the pick-up line which swiftly releases Cupid’s arrow is “What kind of anti-depressants do you take?”
Along with the awesome original music composed by keyboardist José “Juicy” Gonzales, Sam and Candace Vance, a married couple sang, Johnny and June Carter Cash’s song Jackson with their own accordion and guitar accompaniment as well as perfect country accents.
Tulip Country was a witty sketch by Elizabeth Heffron, about the condition of late middle- aged women having a spiritual experience while visiting LaConnor during the Tulip Festival and running into….someone they think is the author Tom Robbins. Using high Seattle humor, Tulip Country expressed a lot of the comedy and sadness about aging.
One of the great pleasures of watching, or one should say participating in, Sandbox Radio productions is that the audience is involved in the productions, so it becomes a very intimate evening. Do not miss the next Sandbox Radio production, which will take place at Town Hall on Oct. 5. To listen to the Podcast of Spring Fever go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sandbox-radio-live/id452830642?mt=2http:
Spring Fever Sandbox Radio. Next production. Oct 5, Town Hall. Tickets http://www.sandboxradio.org/sandbox_radio.html
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