The Great American Trailer Park Musical.

If you give the tremendous power of carte blanche, or a “blank check,” creative liberty to an artist, the results can often be surprising and astonishing. This is the idea behind Carte Blanche Studios (1024 S. Fifth St.), founded in 2007 as the brainchild of Milwaukee actor, director and filmmaker Jimmy Dragolovich.

“I like to think that artists have that kind of freedom here. What one chooses to do with it is up to him,” Dragolovich explains in an email. “I find that one generally gets out what they put in and then some, if his heart is in the right place.”

Dragolovich later partnered with fellow Milwaukee High School of the Arts alum Adam White, and together their concept evolved from a tiny theater into a newly renovated 80-seat theater, gallery and lounge.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical.

Yes, you read that right; Carte Blanche Studios will premiere The Great American Trailer Park Musical, a musical farce with exaggerated characters and a crazy plot. But perhaps that explanation was superfluous based on the title.

Based on the book by Betsy Kelso, with music and lyrics by David Nehls, The Great American Trailer Park Musical centers on the hyper-male Norbert and his paranoid wife, Jeannie, whose marriage is threatened by Armadillo Acres' hot young newcomer Pippi the stripper. Turns out, Pippi from Oklahoma is on the run from her magic-marker-sniffing ex-boyfriend Duke, who is hot on the prowl to get her back.

When Jeannie’s worst suspicions come true and she catches Norbert and Pippi doing you-know-what behind Pippi's trailer, she becomes a hopeless wreck. Enter Duke – high on marker fumes with gun in hand, rolling in like a tangled dustbowl from Oklahoma determined to find Pippi. He finds only Jeannie at Armadillo Acres, packing her belongings to skip town, but Duke holds her at gunpoint and demands to know the whereabouts of Pippi.

Meanwhile, Pippi catches wind that Duke is in town and runs home to find him with Jeannie, causing a catfight (because what’s a musical about a trailer park without a catfight), which is interrupted by some gunplay and even a childbirth. I can’t give away the finale, but just like the hair, expect it to be big. Other choice characters like Linoleum, Betty and Pickles, each dysfunctional in her own right, add to the ridiculous drama.

The Great American Trailer Park Musical runs from April 8-May 1. Click here for tickets or purchase tickets at the box office, but only cash and checks are accepted.

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One more not to miss: Wheel and Sprocket Bike Expo at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park (8200 W. Greenfield Ave.) April 7-10.

April showers mean more than May flowers to bike enthusiasts; it’s time to get geared up for cycling season. Shop for thousands of bike parts, accessories, apparel and ready-to-ride bikes in various styles. There will also be factory representatives and experts, along with clinics and seminars.