Kirjahaku

Parker opens with his 25-year quest to identify music he recorded off a classical radio station in Chicago. He closes with the true-ish story of whitewater rafting guides from rival firms on the Snake River teaming up during the Yellowstone fires of 1988 to create an original, improvisational comedy sketch show, in the underground opera sensation Opening Night: A Roadkill Opera. In between are one-act plays with art entrepreneurs, kitchen characters, and boat saboteurs.Stephan Alexander Parker guided whitewater raft trips, drove buses, and worked at the Jackson Hole Cinema during his years in Wyoming. He is working on his show business memoir, I Rode With Ben Johnson.

Though not nominated, the studio recording of A Roadkill Opera got the creative team invited to the GRAMMYs, which they attended in February 2015. Which led to the January 2016 world premiere, fully staged performances (with sold-out houses) at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint in Washington DC. Which led to performances by the Symphony Orchestra of Northern Virginia (SONOVA) at the James Lee Community Theater in Falls Church, Virginia, in October 2016.This comic opera with music in the style of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is recommended for fans of PDQ Bach, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Tom Lehrer, and The Rutles-but only if you like classical music with infectious hooks.Cool merchandise including album art, sheet music, and CDs of the studio recording that got them to the GRAMMYs are available-the perfect holiday gifts for the person who has (almost) everything A Roadkill Opera is a mashup of classical music and a classic backstage screwball comedy. During the hour before the lights go up on opening night for a comedy improv troupe in 1988 Jackson Hole, Wyoming--the Roadkill On A Stick Frozen Foods Theatre Company--they find out their showroom at the Silver Dollar Bar is being torn down. Hilarity ensues. This original story and English libretto by Parker is set to music by Ferdinando Paer, Beethoven's direct competition. Free, hilarious videos--including lyric videos and karaoke videos--are at roadkillopera.com.