"JEDI PIGS OF OZ"...

Draft script for the Wizard of Oz puppet show is done. Tentative title: “JEDI PIGS OF OZ.” With our all-pigs, all-Star Wars characters cast: Princess Leah as the girl, Luke as the Zombie Scarecrow (who needs a brain), Darth Vader as the Tin Man, Chewy as the Cowardly Wookie, Hansolo as the Great and Powerful Wizard, and Yoda as the Wicked Witch of the West. One new character: sassy Glyn the Good Witch, who’s trapped inside a balloon and can’t get out. (So we can use a balloon and Karen doesn’t have to create a new puppet.)

I was asked, “Did you really write this in just a couple of days?” No; it was less than one, actually—but I’d gone to bed the last few nights thinking about dialogue, and I suppose that counts, too. The script is out for peer review now, and we’ll see if that results in any changes. It’s a longer play than ones we’ve done previously—The Wizard of Oz was a full-length novel (and movie), after all, not just a fairy tale—but not a lot longer. I get to rely a lot on cultural shorthand: people know How The Story Goes, so it’s possible to skip or gloss over parts with no one noticing. (No Munchkins in this play, for instance; no talking trees, field of poppies or helpful mice—and the Flying Monkey (just one) doesn’t fly.)

Our puppeteers don’t have to worry too much about having their lines down exactly, because we’ll have the script posted on the backside of the stage (where we can see it). The main thing we have to wrestle with is getting the moves down; there will be three of us behind the stage, each with a very limited field of movement.

I will still need about a minute’s worth of music by the sock-puppet band for the ending credits; having a song has become traditional now (since it’s been done in the last two puppet shows). I have the first verse down, I think, but will need more. When the band performs, Darth usually ends up being the drum, with Chewy beating on his helmet with a drumstick—but in this play, by the end of the play Princess Leah is wearing Darth’s helmet. Should Leah be the drum instead—and Darth do the lead vocal? That could be interesting; Darth “speaks” through a megaphone (to get that James Earl Jones voice) and singing like that could sound very much like William Shatner doing pop music.

(And this time I’ll record an instrumental version, too, that I can extract from for the opening title and credits. Last time, I backed the opening credits with a clip from Southern Pigfish’s “Darth Vader Blues,” which was the only instrumental I had.)

We could maybe perform the play the weekend of December 10; the Arts Center is free then (but that could change—December is getting a little busy). Failing that, it’ll be January. And of course we’ll film and YouTube it; we’ve got this routine pretty much down, now.

Open Mike at the Arts Center was good. Had just enough performers to feel right, Jim running sound and me being host (and we both got to perform, too). I thought the audience was small, but they did eat most of eight dozen cookies so I guess it wasn’t that small. And a big jam session afterwards. Had a toddler who was out on the floor dancing to Jane’s and my rendition of “Pole Dancing for Jesus,” and I’ll have to see how much of it got caught on video. Just the toddler alone would make a tremendous video backdrop for the song. (And she definitely stole the show.)

So one project (the play script) kinda done. I haven’t talked to the musicians I want for “The Occupation Song” video (most of them weren’t at the Rapture Room jam Sunday night) but I can still record the “base” rhythm guitar and vocal track Thursday at the Arts Center. I’ll just have to approach it the way I did the “Twenty-Four Seven” video—keep the equipment with me and as opportunities happen, grab them.

Joe