From: eichler2@comcastsucks.net   
      
   Very little of interest ever happens in Harrisburg, PA, so when I saw   
   a newspaper ad for a show called "Absolutely Freaked" at the Open   
   Stage of Harrisburg, I couldn't pass it up.   
      
   It was billed as "an experimental rock concert featuring the early   
   works of Frank Zappa".  An announcement at the beginning of the show   
   made it very clear that the Zappa Family Trust does not allow musicals   
   based on Frank's work.  So they described it as "having a story to tie   
   the songs together, for those who need some sort of narrative   
   throughline...but this ISN'T a musical".  The story was presented by   
   four vocalists who stood out in front of the band and wore costumes   
   and used props, but...again, they were very clear that this was NOT a   
   musical.   
      
   The story was of a young musician named Yolo who was having trouble   
   writing good compositions.  At the beginning of the show, they handed   
   various percussion instruments out to random people in the audience   
   and encouraged them to play along with Yolo's music (which was just   
   random improvisation).   Eventually Yolo meets a young hippie girl   
   named Suzy Creamcheese who tells him to seek out the "Great and   
   Powerful Z".  He meets a dominatrix who offers him dirty love and Mr.   
   America, right-wing square.  Mr. America becomes so corrupted by the   
   dominatrix and her poodles (and Zappa's music) that he turns into the   
   Great and Mighty Z.  After listening to Yolo's music, he tells him   
   that he was really a composer all along.   
      
   Lots of weirdness.  During St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast the   
   performers handed out pancakes to the audience, complete with syrup.   
   During Dirty Love, the performers playing the poodles went out and   
   sniffed members of the audience (I got sniffed for what seemed like at   
   least a minute).  There was a drag queen dressed up as a housewife who   
   went around obsessively cleaning everything with windex.   
      
   Unfortunately they only did four performances (seems like they put a   
   ton of work into a show that was only going to be performed four   
   times).  I went to the second performance on Friday night and liked it   
   so much that I went back and saw the final show on Sunday.  My   
   daughter who's still home from college for winter break was intrigued   
   by my description of Friday's show and went along on Sunday, despite   
   not being much of a Zappa fan.  She loved it too.  She was   
   particularly intrigued by one of the performers who the program   
   describes as a "transmasculine nonbinary performance artist".   
      
   I don't know if they have any plans of touring this show (or even ever   
   doing it again), but if you get a chance to see it, it's highly   
   recommended.   
      
   The set list:   
      
   Let's Make the Water Turn Black   
   The Idiot Bastard Son (with videos of Trump in the background)   
   Yolo's improv #1 (listed as Nasal Retentive Calliope Music)   
   Wowie Zowie   
   Flower Punk   
   Who Needs the Peace Corps   
   Mom & Dad   
   What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body   
   Who Are the Brain Police   
   Brown Shoes Don't Make It (just the first couple verses)   
   Yolo's improv #2 (listed as Return of the Son of Monster Magnet)   
   Camarillo Brillo   
      
   intermission   
      
   Dirty Love   
   Hungry Freaks Daddy   
   The Air   
   It Can't Happen Here (done in 4-part a capella)   
   Concentration Moon   
   Mr. Green Genes   
   The Uncle Meat Variations   
   Montana   
   St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast   
   Absolutely Free   
   Mother People   
   Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance   
      
   encore:  Eat That Question with cast dance party   
      
   I was hoping someone would have put some pictures or video of the show   
   on the internet somewhere by now, but if they did I can't find 'em.   
      
     -- Bob   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)