(Photo by Brian Diaz)
ORLANDO | Joel Swanson is bringing the popular FROGPIG back to HÄOS on Church for a one-night-only holiday show Dec. 8 called “The FROGPIG Christmas Album.”
FROGPIG, in his never-ending quest to become a world famous star, is in the studio working on his new Christmas album. Along with being joined by record producer Bada Bing (played by FROGPIG regular Charlie Stevens) and personal assistant Ollie (played by Nic Nightingale), FROGPIG will also be visited in the studio by a Christmas diva (played by Heather Abood), teeny-bopper sensation Bobby the Kid (played by Megan “Megbo” Boetto) and the legendary Liza Minnelli (played by Kari Ringer reprising her role from “The FROGPIG and Friends Variety Hour”).
Swanson took some time to chat with Watermark ahead of the holiday spectacular to let us know what FROGPIG has been up to, what we can expect from the show and what makes this time of year so magical.
WATERMARK: How did you come up with the idea of FROGPIG and how did your show go from Fringe stages to HÄOS on Church?
JOEL SWANSON: FROGPIG is a half pig/half frog who has this dream of spreading joy through song and dance, and it is up to the audience to figure out who his parents could be because he certainly doesn’t know. He was abandoned as a baby and he is fighting to become as famous as he knows he deserves to be.
I did FORGPIG for the first time as a one-man show at Orlando Fringe in 2018, did it again at Winter Mini Fringe the year after that and I did it at Rochester Fringe; here, there and everywhere [laughs]. It has become this monster that I never thought it would be but I’m so thankful that it is.
Then this whole shutdown business happened, God bless Blue Star for developing a venue and really putting her heart and soul into a space for performers during a time when there weren’t many, if any, spaces for us. I auditioned to become a part of her opening troupe for HÄOS on Church just as myself, Joel Swanson, but also presented that I do have this puppet character named FROGPIG. I also have this drag character named Just Jewel. She took a liking to the possibility that the audience will never know which version of Joel is going to pop up.
In January I did three weekends in a row of the one-man show version of FROGPIG to open the Blue-La-La Lounge at HÄOS and since then it has turned into my personal favorite cabaret-type venue in Orlando. Lots of artists have taken advantage for having that space here and calling that HÄOS their home.
And here we are, with the next chapter of FROGPIG, returning to HÄOS as it should be.
With that transition form a Fringe show to a cabaret-style show at HÄOS, did that cause you to change the show up at all?
The only difference between the Fringe FROGPIG and the HÄOS FROGPIG is that it’s like 10 minutes longer since it was allowed to be [laughs]. Nothing changed on paper, I just felt the freedom to banter with the audience and banter with Charlie Stevens, my faithful fingers on the piano. There was more freedom to really lean into that cabaret aesthetic because the divas I have studied in writing are Bette Midler, Liza Minelli and Barbra Streisand; that is my trifecta, and they all ramble. So being able to allow myself to go on a tangent has been a lot of fun. I will always love Fringe, Fringe will always be my father, and while having to be in and out is a challenge that we are all up to, being able to take away that one logistic factor really does take a weight off my back because I am a talker.
Your next show is the holiday-themed “The FROGPIG Christmas Album.” Talk to me about this new show.
I am the king of misleading titles. I think I just do it to myself at this point. When I announced the show, friends were telling my “You’re putting out a Christmas album? That is so exciting.” No, that is just the framing device for this show. But who knows, FROGPIG probably will have a Christmas album on Spotify and iTunes some day.
This show is a one-man-ish show, there are definitely special guests. In the show, FROGPIG is trying to be the big star that he knows he deserves to be, and what does every big star have? A Christmas album! So this is his year, time is ticking and it is almost Christmas.
The show will be on Dec. 8 and that is his big recording session, so he is trying to slam out these Christmas tracks and there are some fun characters that I’m writing. I mentioned to Charlie earlier that he is always behind the keys with FROGPIG but now Charlie Stevens will be playing a character in the universe as FROGPIG’s record producer who loves to name drop all of the artists whose Christmas albums he has helped with in the past, whether it’s true or not.
So he is trying to get through this album as quickly as possible. Ollie, who is FROGPIG’s assistant and likened to Scooter from “The Muppets Show,” is there and maybe there’s a mistletoe moment there. I’m definitely excited to say that Kari Ringer as Liza Minnelli will be back in action.
Fringe audiences saw her as the ‘70s version of Liza but in this one we are keeping it 2021 and this is the cooky crazy Liza that we haven’t seen much of lately but we know she is still kicking cause we get one video a year from her saying “I’ve still got it!”
You mentioned how every singer seems to have a Christmas album and performers love making holiday shows this time of year. What is about Christmas that got your creative juices flowing?
That image of Christmas with the family around the tree on Christmas morning, and you know it’s the time to be together and celebrate friends and family, but the reality is FROGPIG doesn’t have that family, he has always wanted that family but he has never quite located his parents and who knows if that will ever happen — Disney, call me.
But a big theme of any FROGPIG iteration is that found family and finding where you fit in in the grand scheme of the universe. He is a big advocate of found family, so this show is about celebrating Christmas with whoever you have near; blood relatives or that chosen family you have. I think that is a part of Christmas that brings all artists back to these songs over and over again. But also the commercialism [laughs]. People are going to go out and buy that album. We listen to those albums, whether we want to or not. I turn on the radio and “Little Drummer Boy” is playing for the thousandth time but I’m gonna listen to it because it’s Christmas. Family and commercialism — the two themes of Christmas.
With things getting a little bit back to normal, what are you looking forward to most this holiday season?
I think this is an exciting Christmas since we are able to sit down and enjoy those Christmas songs we wanted to hear and see our friends sing to us because we all have those people in our lives that we can rely on to provide us with entertainment for the Christmas season. Every year there are those concerts we have to go to, so hopefully this year we can create memories that can help take the place of the subpar ones we had last year.
“The FROGPIG Christmas Album” will be for one night only on Dec. 8, doors open at 7 p.m. and show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 each and available at FROGPIG.Ticketleap.com/FROGPIGChristmas.
