“Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life” debuted in Fort Myers during Fringe Fort Myers in 2024. The show’s originator, Keith Alessi, returns this week as part of Theatre Conspiracy’s farewell tour. Bill Taylor, Theatre Conspiracy’s founder and producing artistic director, explains where it has been.
“It’s the first of three international fringe touring shows that we’re bringing to town. ‘Tomatoes’ has played all over world. He’s raised over a million dollars for nonprofits and charities all over the world.”
Alessi’s four performances will benefit six local nonprofits: Florida Repertory Theatre, Players Circle Theatre, Barbara’s Friends (which is a Golisano Children’s Hospital cancer fund), The United Way of Lee, Hendry & Glades Counties, The Acoustic Music Society of Southwest Florida and Americana Community Music Association.
“We’re splitting the money with those nonprofits, and Keith has said that if the shows sell out, he’ll donate another thousand dollars to the nonprofits. So just an amazing guy, an amazing show, a chance to raise a bunch of money for some nonprofits,” Taylor said.
“Tomatoes” chronicles Alessi’s drive to learn to play the banjo after being diagnosed as having a rare form of esophageal cancer caused by acid reflux aggravated by his acidic, Italian-based diet and stressful occupation working with financially troubled public companies.
What comes across most during this compelling hour of storytelling is Alessi’s authenticity and vulnerability. He’s genuine. He’s charming. He’s endearingly self-deprecating. And he’s clearly grateful for the opportunities he’s been given notwithstanding – or perhaps because of – the numerous obstacles that fate has thrown in his path. But as the artist says, he’s a windshield, not a rearview mirror, type of guy. After all, you can’t look forward if you’re mired in the past.
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Performances are Thursday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, July 13 at 2 p.m.
Alessi describes himself as a “recovering corporate CEO.”
At the time of his cancer diagnosis, Alessi had a collection of 52 banjos – one for every week of the year. But he didn’t play a note. His prognosis — that he only had a 50/50 chance of living another year and less than 15 percent chance of making it for five — spurred a sudden drive to master the banjo … and negotiate the outrageous slings and arrows of aggressive cancer treatment.
That journey is the fodder for “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life.” The result is an engaging hour of storytelling sprinkled with humor, peppered with sage, down-home observations about life and living, and accompanied by banjo tunes that range from folk and bluegrass to jazz, blues and classical. In fact, audiences will revel in a deft introduction not just to the genre, but the history of the instrument from its earliest days, when the banjo provided settlers and the enslaved with the means to express their longing and love for the homes they’d left behind.
The show’s appeal inheres largely in its inspirational message coupled with Alessi’s gift for storytelling.
Since 2018, Alessi has given 370 performances with aggregate audiences exceeding 30,000 people and a gate exceeding $1 million that he’s donated to charity. In addition to Fringe Fort Myers, Alessi’s performance venues include the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Toronto Fringe and Squeaky Wheel Fringe Festival in Sarasota.
Banjos were not an obvious choice.
In “Tomatoes,” banjos don’t just figure prominently in the storytelling. They’re akin to characters in a play. But the choice of banjo isn’t obvious, not even to Alessi.
“I was a first generation Italian,” Alessi said. “I didn’t have banjos ringing in my ears growing up.”
Then one day, he was watching some TV, when the “Ballad of Jed Clampett” came across the airwaves.
Come and listen to my story about a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed,
And then one day he was shootin at some food,
And up through the ground come a bubblin crude. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Jed’s a millionaire,
The kinfolk said “Jed move away from there”
Said “Californy is the place you ought to be”
So they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly
Hills, that is. Swimmin pools, movie stars.
“It was something about the sound of the banjo that made me want to learn how to play it,” Alessi reminisced. But life got in the way. Specifically, corporate America, where Alessi ascended the ranks, eventually becoming CEO for Westmoreland Coal Co.
Although he did not make the time to learn to play, he did start a world class banjo collection.
“I collected baseball cards and stamps and coins as a kid,” said Alessi.
Now an adult, he turned his attention to banjos.
“At my peak, I had 52 of them in closets, under beds, and anywhere else I could stash them. I’ve since reduced my collection. A guy doesn’t need a separate banjo for every week of the year. But I’ve kept the ones that are more meaningful to me.”
Ten years ago, Alessi decided to retire from corporate life. With time on his hands for the first time in a while, he toyed with the idea of taking up the banjo in earnest. As fate would have it, he was diagnosed two weeks later with esophageal cancer in the course of a routine check-up.
“Until the time I received my diagnosis, I thought I was perfectly healthy. It came literally out of left field in a routine physical examination. Yeah, it was a wake-up call, to say the least.”
The prognosis was bleak. Doctors gave him a 50 percent chance of surviving for a year, but only a 15 percent chance of living for five.
“I threw myself into trying to learn to play the banjo while I was going through my treatments because it kept my mind off of the medical issue at hand,” he said.
He also joined the Circle of Musicians in Virginia, where he not only learned to play old-time banjo music, but forged friendships that helped him heal both physically and emotionally from trauma dating back to his childhood.
Those experiences lie at the core of “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life,” which he created with his producer, Erika Conway.
“[In the show] I really encourage people to pursue their long-delayed passions,” Alessi explains. “You shouldn’t need a death sentence to pursue something you feel strongly about.”
It’s a lesson that Alessi learned the hard way.
“When I was a corporate CEO, I used to always admonish my people to have a balanced work life situation, and there’s a lot to be said for that to have outside interests from work. [Ironically] for me it took this major life event to really wake me up.”
But while banjos make a consistent appearance in Alessi’s story, he wants everyone to know that “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life” is not a concert.
“I make sure people understand that on a good day, I’m an intermediate player,” said Alessi. “That was never the point. Pursuing something for the joy of it is good enough. You know, I grew up of a generation where you didn’t do something unless you could be the best at it, and that’s probably why those banjos stayed in the closet as long as they did. But when I joined the Circle of Musicians, it really was a revelation to me that just the process and the interaction in the community was enough. I didn’t have to be the best at it.”
It’s this type of philosophy that Alessi imparts during his performance.
Since its inception in 2018, “Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life” has also become something of a cause, allowing Alessi to indulge his penchant for philanthropy.
“We’ve raised close to one million Canadian dollars since 2018," he said.
As this suggests, Alessi is a big fan and ardent proponent of fringe festivals.
Fifty percent of the gate for Alessi’s four shows will be divided among the following nonprofit partners:
United Way of Lee, Hendry, and Glades Counties - A volunteer organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all people in our community. All of the money raised stays right here in our community.
Barbara's Friends—Golisano Children's Hospital Cancer Fund - Provides resources to fulfill the treatment and educational needs of pediatric oncology and hematology patients at Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida.
ACMA (Americana Community Music Association) - Provides a venue for nationally touring artists, many award-winning performers in the national and international Americana/Folk community.
The Acoustic Music Society of Southwest Florida - A 501c3 non-profit community- supported music organization doing business as Palmgrass. It hosts bluegrass music events primarily in Lee and Collier counties.
Florida Repertory Theatre - Brings spectacular stories to life on stage in the heart of the Fort Myers Historic River District. Performing in the Historic Arcade and ArtStage Studio Theatres, the fully professional regional theatre brings over 87,000 visitors to Southwest Florida each year, to see nationally recognized comedies, dramas, new plays, and musicals. According to The Wall Street Journal Florida Rep is, "as good as Broadway!"
Players Circle Theater - Has a three-fold mission: To create a home for a variety of theater employing an ensemble of professionals; to become an outlet for community involvement in the arts' and to enrich, educate, and entertain our community with classes and performances. It intends to fulfill that mission as a nonprofit organization that operates in a fiscally responsible manner and keeps its programming accessible to all.
For more on Keith Alessi and the show, visit https://www.tomatoestriedtokillme.com/.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.