While You’re In: Put on a show, revisit ducky days or enjoy a twist on a classic
Return to the days of vaudeville
There’s good news for fans of comedy, music, dance, stunts and just plain silliness: The red-cheeked vaudevillian Lord Franzannian, alter ego of Olympia arts impresario Elizabeth Lord, is taking his much-loved Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show online. Lord hasn’t yet figured out all the details about where, when and how to make the show available for viewing, but she’s reaching out to the talented and brave to send video of their acts — or an audition video — to elizabeth-lord@hotmail.com at no later than Sept. 20. She suggests videos be limited to three minutes or less. Proceeds from the sell-out live shows are split among performers, and Lord is hoping to find a way to compensate this year’s talents, too. Find inspiration — or whet your appetite for this year’s show — by watching the wacky clowns, old-time band and yo-yo tricks of last year’s show Act 1 and Act 2.
Ducky memories
The 12,000 rubber ducks of Lacey Rotary’s Duck Dash, sidelined last year because the Deschutes River was being cleaned after an oil spill, are sitting out another year due to the pandemic. What’s left of the dash this year is a raffle to support the Rotary’s scholarships and donations to nonprofits. Miss watching the ducks do their thing? Revisit duckier days in a 2013 video, and celebrate those cute bathtub toys with the world’s most famous duckie devotee, Ernie of “Sesame Street.” Revisit the classic version of “Rubber Duckie” which reached no. 16 on the Billboard charts in 1970 and has been viewed 33 million times on YouTube. Want more? Watch Ernie teach best friend Bert to sing the tune, and hear celebrities join the fun.
The rest of the story
Feeling nostalgic for childhood joys after listening to Ernie? The Olympian suggests checking out a couple of recent updates to kiddie lit classics. McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies has done not one but two sets of Frog and Toad tales in which the best friends cope with the realities of living in a global pandemic in what could be called their own inimitable way if not for the fact that the humor magazine’s Jennie Egerdie has imitated them so cleverly. “Time means nothing now,” Toad says in one. “It is just the thing that happens between snacks.” Even better is the story in which Frog can’t get Toad out of the bath, where, it turns out, he’s holding tight to his rubber duck. “No virus in the bathtub,” he whispers to the duck. “We’re safe in here.” After you’ve had your fill of amphibious adventures, check out playwright Topher Payne’s inspiring new ending to Shel Silverstein’s classic-yet-oft-criticized “The Giving Tree,” in which the tree learns to set boundaries. “Hold up,” the tree tells the grown-up Boy. “This is already getting out of hand.” It’s just one of the revised endings to children’s books available to read, download and print on the Topher Fixed It section of Payne’s website.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore has always enjoyed the “Sesame Street” classic “La La La,” in which the delightfully nerdy Bert comes up with such lovely “L” words and phrases as “lightbulb” and “lump in my oatmeal.” She discusses local arts, entertainment and more with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.