In 2001, White Knuckle Sandwich — Jennifer Duffy (now Perez), Anne Shapiro, and myself — contributed to a program of 10-minute musicals under development at New York Theatre Workshop.  Our selection, “The King of Ukuleleland,” was inspired by the island musicals that proliferated in the early 1900s; it featured my dummy, Eddie Gray, in the title role, me as his assistant, Anne as a lawyer, Jen as a missionary who went native and got hooked on ukulele juice, and a chorus of ukulelians.  The plot involved a Christian scheme to cut down all the ukulele trees, an inheritance, and mistaken identities; and ended with everyone on the island marrying everyone else.

The man who organized the project had a penchant for mainstream folk-rock that affirmed religious and family values; and a scenario mocking missionaries, marriage, temperance, and the work ethic didn’t quite fit his agenda.  I don’t know where the project went after this, but we bowed out.