Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life is a comedy, but it tackles some serious issues. The one-man show portrays main actor’s Keith Alessi’s recovery from cancer.
“This show is basically my life story,” says Alessi. “I was a corporate executive who had spent my life collecting a world-class banjo collection that I couldn’t play, and I was going to get to it one of those days. When I finally retired and learned to play, two weeks later I was told I had a year to live: I had esophageal cancer. And ultimately I recover, of course. I’m still here, and I learn to play. And the show is really the story about how all that happened.”
Alessi says that this play stemmed from a lot of encouragement from the people around him.
“Well, it wasn’t my intent for it to be a project,” he says. “People told me, ‘Hey, you should tell your story.’ So, back in 2018, I intended to just do it to see what it would be like, and that was at the Toronto Fringe Festival 2018, and when I come to Victoria, we’ll be up to show 330 or so. What I like most about it is it just keeps changing. It’s a one-man show, I can change it everyday if I want. It keeps evolving, it keeps having impact.”
Alessi says that the main message of Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life is that it’s never too late to seize the day and follow your dreams.
“The message of the show is don’t wait to pursue your passions,” he says. “People tend to stick things in their closet, that’s the metaphor I use in the show about things that are in your closet. People tend to think they will get to things one day, but there is always a reason life gets in the way that they don’t. So basically, I’m telling people, ‘You’re never too old to pursue your passion.’ For me, I was 61 years old when I got my diagnosis, so it took me a long time for that light bulb to go off for me. That’s really the heart and the soul of the show.”
Alessi says that doing this play helped him grow socially.
“I interact with people I wouldn’t have interacted with in my business life,” he says. “I deal with a lot of creatives now… I think it’s made me a more well-rounded individual by expanding my circle of acquaintances and friends, the groups of people who might not have been people I would have naturally gravitated to otherwise.”
Alessi donates all of the box office proceeds from Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life to charity. He says that since the play started, including donations, he’s raised over $900,000 for cancer, music, theatre, and community charities. But beyond that, Alessi says that the main thing he wants audiences to take away from the play is a mix of inspiration, fun, and enjoyment.
“I want them to feel good, first of all,” says Alessi. “I want them to be inspired and I want them to reflect upon their own lives and their own priorities. I think there is a message in there for a lot of people about the importance of pursuing things you are passionate about.”
Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life
7:30 pm Friday, April 5,
2 pm Saturday, April 6, and
7:30 pm Saturday, April 6
$35, Langham Court Theatre
langhamtheatre.ca