by Beat Rice
Wow, anything played on the banjo really does sound good. Add a full band, some actors with strong voices and a stage, and you’ve got The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw, a 90 minute bluegrass musical. It identifies itself as an opera although most of the storytelling is done through song with some text in between. The cast of 10, with four live musicians, create some really big sound in the cavernous Passe Muraille. The music is really what it’s all about, from slow ballads, to stomping banjo battles, it’s done so well it allows for us to overlook some of the cheese in the story.
