Now living in Maine, Fred Garbo got paid for doing a card trick in 1974 and has been a professional performer ever since.
On “Sesame Street,” he was the acrobat inside Barkley the Dog. On Broadway, he was the chief juggler in the musical “Barnum.” He toured Europe, Hong Kong and Australia with the Obie-Award-winning “Foolsfire.” He has taken the stage on “Late Night with David Letterman.”
Joined by Brazilian born ballerina Daielma Santos, Garbo is the ring leader of the Fred Garbo Inflatable Theater Company, which arrives at the Northshore Performing Arts Center (18125 92nd Ave. N.E., Bothell) for one show at 2 p.m. April 18.
The duo has performed around the world with a program that combines physical comedy, dance, juggling and, probably most importantly, their own creative inventions that, as the name of the troupe implies, inflate. Garbo has been designing his blow-up creations with artist George York for 19 years.
A typical show begins when a 10-foot cylinder slithers onto the stage and sort of implodes. Before long, the entire audience is playing catch with gigantic inflatable props. Later, a red cube takes on a life of its own, rolling, gliding, tumbling in synch to the music, right up to the edge of the stage. The big block teeters on the brink, quacking and changing shape, then makes a surprise exit.
As for Santos, among other things, she dances a can-can, but her skirt starts to grow longer and longer, becoming a ball gown, then a balloon engulfs her, finally spiriting her away.
“Where ever we go, people always ask the same question: ‘Where did you ever come up with this idea?’ The short answer is: ‘We made it up. It’s our own fault,’” Garbo said on his Web site.
Actually, the site gives credit for the initial idea behind the Inflatable Theater Company to a parachuting experience Garbo had in 1988. Designed with York, his first prop was a stage set that turns into a couch and a self-inflating body suit. The latter gave birth to Garbo’s stage persona, Fred Zeplin, the inflatable man.
As for stage partner Santos, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dance of London and at Michigan University. She has performed around the world as a dancer and was principal ballerina with Brazil’s Opera Paulista II dance company.
Tickets for the Inflatable Theater Company are $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $15 for those under 25. Tickets are available on the Web at www.ticketswest.com or by phone at (800) 992-TIXX or (425) 408-7988.
For more information, visit the Northshore Performing Arts Center site at www.npacf.org. The Inflatable Theater Company site is www.fredgarbo.com.
