Review: LIFE IN A BOX, episode 2.0

by Lynn on April 17, 2020

in The Passionate Playgoer

Life in a Box episode 2.0 (on Instagram from Friday, April-17, 2020.)

Background. The wonderful Landon Doak & Matt Finlan are presenting episodes of their apocalyptic-friendship-stoner-musical Life in a Boxlive on Instagram (@landondoak) every Friday at 4:20pm.

They perform about 15-20 minutes of the show in succession, playing the instruments live and using wifi lightbulbs for the effects, have incorporated some new music, and then after do a talk show-style chat about the show, life, weed, etc. with some good news stories thrown in.

I love the show when I saw it live. Here’s my review of the full show when it played the Grand Canyon Theatre last year.

In this week’s episode Landon Doak and Matt Finlan have built the time machine that will take them back to the past so that they can warn people of the impending conflagration that will happen in the future. The minutiae of navigating the past, knowing the future, and how to work with the two time periods, is one of the beauties of the show as a whole, and the segments on their own. They had to figure out how to get that message to the future and where to put it to be useful.

The lively, clever songs pepper the whole musical but we only got one song in this segment. Viewers get a taste of the strong voices, harmonies and chemistry between these two friends. Again, they riff off each other, never miss a beat (until they tell us they did later in the chat section) and play their characters with committed seriousness and whimsy. And while Life in a Box is described  as a ‘stoner musical’ you don’t have to be high to enjoy the artistry, musicality and wild imagination of the two.

I am so delighted to say that now all the episodes will be available on YouTube and on their Instagram page. The details are below. Doak and Finlan are gracious, generous performers giving credit to their co-creators and people who have supported them and written reviews (thanks, Guys, for the shout-out). Check them out. In our worlds of isolation, Life in a Box is a breath of fresh air even if it might be filled with the fragrance of weed.  

@landondoak) every Friday at 4:20pm.

And their Instagram handle for the show is: @_lifeinabox_

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