Tomatoes and Banjos return to Rosebud Theatre

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, but Banjos Saved My Life, as written and performed by Keith Alessi has returned to the Rosebud Theatre Studio Stage after the show’s warm reception there last fall.

Enriching his storytelling with banjo music and accenting it with self-deprecating banjo jokes, Keith Alessi tells the story of his life, emphasizing his triumph over a life-threatening illness.

The show is funny, heart-warming and tear-jerking, but it’s also so much more as it is the story of how Alessi both suffered from and overcame the legacy of his father’s anger, as well as his Italian family’s love of tomatoes.

Alessi’s escape route from his father’s anger was making money. He became an accountant known for taking companies from broken to excelling. He was thriving at work, but he was stressed out and with a problem of constant acid reflux that was caused by an inherited love of tomatoes. He decided to quit his job so he could pursue his lifelong interest in banjo playing.

Two weeks later, Alessi was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. His doctors and friends told him the picture was bleak. Over everything, he knew he could control one thing – his attitude. Alessi was determined not just to survive, but to really live.

He also promised himself three things: That he’d tell everyone he loved that he loved them – done. 

He promised he’d get good enough at the banjo that he could play onstage – that took a little longer. He watched and heard other banjo players, he attended banjo camp, he took banjo lessons and he started playing his story, onstage, at the Toronto Fringe Festival. That was the beginning of Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me, But Banjos Saved My Life. 

Alessi thought it would end there until he connected with Erika Conway, a Rosebud School of the Arts graduate, who helped him refine the script and the show kept growing.

Alessi’s now performed his show on stages all over Canada and the United States of America. He has performed in his home state of Virginia, in New York City, Calgary and many places in between. Now the show is back in Rosebud before ending his 2022 tour with 25 performances in Edinburgh, Scotland.

For every run and from every performance, Alessi donates the proceeds to the theatre or to a cancer charity.

And Alessi he keeps the third promise he made to himself – that he’d play a piece of music that he’d composed himself. And so, he ends each performance by playing his original Banjo Opera.