<\/p>\n
The annual onslaught of holiday shows has overtaken local stages, and they\u2019re a cherished part of the season for many folks.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s always room for a newcomer. One that\u2019s worth a try is \u201cA Trailer Park Holiday\u201d<\/strong> by Stage Left Players, which has nutball energy and a feel-good aura.<\/p>\n The comic musical got its world premiere last weekend at the theater\u2019s Trinity Playhouse in Lisbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTrailer Park\u201d was written by Kandy Cleland, who is also the director, and includes music by Jodine Pilmer.<\/p>\n It squeezes a Hallmark Channel love story through a Columbiana County trailer park.\u00a0<\/p>\n The setting is a tacky trailer park full of offbeat folks who know each other\u2019s business all too well. But when the chips are down, they pull together and save the day.<\/p>\n \u201cTrailer Park\u201d is full of situations you never saw coming \u2013 because that\u2019s how they do things in their corner of the world.<\/p>\n There is a lot of music, too, with a live band in the loft that keeps things quick and bouncy.<\/p>\n The 12 original songs are a huge highlight. With a range of musical styles and clever lyrics, they equate with what you\u2019ll see at the highest levels.<\/p>\n On the stage, the down-home characters connect to each other with the bluntness that comes from living in close quarters.<\/p>\n It\u2019s obvious this cast has a ton of experience and is used to working together under Cleland. Most of them become audience favorites by the end of the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the lead role is Tessa Young. She plays the trailer park native who has found success in the big city but can\u2019t break her emotional baggage to the place where she grew up. Young handles it with Hallmark charm.<\/p>\n Cleland has once again shown how to write a script that is lighthearted and smooth.<\/p>\n \u201cTrailer Park\u201d is the fifth musical that she has written, directed and produced at Stage Left. That might be a record for Mahoning Valley playwrights.<\/p>\n \u201cA Trailer Park Holiday\u201d is entering its final weekend, with performances at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s new, but it might become a tradition.<\/p>\n Local blues-rock fans know about Samantha Fish<\/strong>, who always books a date in the Valley when she\u2019s on tour.<\/p>\n Fish will return to the Robins Theatre on Friday for a 7 p.m. concert that also includes Cedric Burnside <\/strong>and Jon Spencer<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n She released her new album, \u201cPaper Doll,\u201d in April, and then freshened it up in October with a deluxe version that includes two bonus tracks: \u201cDead Armadillo\u201d and a rendition of Neil Young\u2019s classic \u201cDon\u2019t Let it Bring You Down.\u201d<\/p>\n Fish builds her songs on a simple foundation and then lets them take flight with evolving hooks and melodies.<\/p>\n She also gets personal with her lyrics.<\/p>\n \u201cDead Armadillo\u201d is about accepting that not everyone is going to like you.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be involved in every situation you encounter, and there\u2019s a good reason for that,\u201d she wrote in her press materials. \u201cNot every person is meant for you. It\u2019s a mix of self-acceptance and being unbothered by the outcomes of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Tickets for her Friday concert are getting scarce. To buy them in advance, click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\nSamantha Fish<\/h3>\n