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| Poster art by Caroline Von Feilitzsch |
The ensemble musical revue opens on Friday, July 13 for a
three week run. American Song is a celebration of the life, writings, and music of
Woody Guthrie, as well as the vibrant American spirit.
The musical, which was conceived by Peter Glazer,
features more than two dozen of the legendary balladeer’s songs, including his
best known piece, “This Land is Your
Land,” as well as many other favorites such as “Do Re Mi,” “Bound for Glory,” “Hard
Travelin’” and "Union Maid.” In addition,
all the dialogue was compiled by Glazer from Guthrie’s writings. He was a folksong poet, with an uncanny
ability to capture the vernacular and the travails of the common man.
He describes his symbiotic relationship with “his” people
in a 1946 poetic ode called “The People I Owe,” which is excerpted in the
opening speeches of the show:
. . . I have heard
a storm of words in me, enough to write several hundred songs and that many
books. I know that these words I hear are not my own private property….I
borrowed them from you, the same as I walked through the high winds and
borrowed enough air to keep me moving. I borrowed enough to eat and drink to
keep me alive. I borrowed the shirt you made, the coat you spun, the underwear
you fixed, and those socks you wove. I went on and walked down my road, you
went on and walked your path. And the weather's winds, snows, sleets, ices, and
hailstones cut down the oat straw, beat through the car top, knocked holes in
shingles and went through awnings broke window lights, but never separated our
works. Your works and my works held hands and our memories never did separate.
I borrowed my life from the works of your life. I have felt your energy in me
and seen mine move in you.
There are obvious comparisons of Guthrie’s experience to the
contemporary world’s divisiveness, income inequality, and immigration woes. But this musical revue is apolitical and
instead is a celebration of what brings us together as a nation, of what it
means to be human.
Bruce Linser is the show’s Director. Linser is the manager of Dramaworks’ The Dramaworkshop and just came from a very successful production of Avenue Q which he directed for the MNM
Theatre Company. When asked about the
upcoming show, Linser said “this is an experience to bring people
together. I hope audiences will be
surprised by the sheer joy and relevancy.
Guthrie was incredibly passionate about storytelling. And what he was saying he was also singing, making
this ensemble theatrical experience moving.
Even though an ensemble, I approach it as he would any musical: it must
tell a compelling story. Ironically,
Guthrie’s tragic flaw, his restlessness, might have deprived him of even more
fame when he lived. But that was his
strength, telling the tales of people who were marginalized from all over the
nation, from the migrant workers to those toiling in factories organizing
unions.”
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Four families, three of them related with fifteen
children, from the Dust Bowl
in Texas in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria,
California
Dorothea Lange,
Photographer, March 1937
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The cast of five actor/musicians features Cat Greenfield,
Don Noble, Sean Powell (who is also the musical director), and Jeff Raab, all
making their PBD debuts, and PBD veteran Julie Rowe. They will be joined onstage by musicians
Joshua Lubben, Michael Lubben, and Tom Lubben, West Palm Beach-based triplets
who are familiar to many South Floridians as The Lubben Brothers.
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| Woody Guthrie |
The actors supply the drama and the poetry while the
energy of Guthrie’s songs is amplified by the Lubben Brothers, all classically
trained musicians, but drawn to the American Folk Tradition. It is their own mission statement: “Music
brings community. As a family that plays
music together, we desire to bring others into the same unity we have come to
love.” Talk about type casting!
When asked about their feelings about Guthrie and this
show in particular they said (singularly of course, but one might begin a thought
while another completes it): “This is the first time we’ve gone so deeply into Guthrie’s’
music. We’re familiar of course with his
big name standards, “This Land Is Your Land,” “So Long It’s Been Good to Know
Yah” and see him in the great American tradition of folk storytellers. He tells the story of a part of America that
has been forgotten. The images in the
show are very powerful and organic, demonstrating a disenfranchised people’s
faith and hard work, trying to build their lives and make a better one for
their children. Guthrie eloquently
expresses the essence of the American Dream in his folksongs.”
“Although at times we find ourselves going back to our
classical roots, performing classical concerts as well, we always get together
at least once a week to sing folksongs, from Afro American spirituals to folk
songs of today. We simply love to
discover ones from America’s past and to sing them.”
“We think this experience is going to be very different than
the usual concert performance. The
latter must just sound good, one off, but playing each day in a structured show
allows development and of course, as you are playing before a different
audience each day, those performances can be slightly different, responding to
the audience. We love the way the actors
in the play depict three different periods in Guthrie’s life, a moving way of
showing a multifaceted human being.”
The joy and the energy of the Lubben Brothers can be seen
in their rehearsal of Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi” about how dust bowl migrant workers
were turned away or poorly treated at the California border. Sound familiar?
So before Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, there was
Woody Guthrie. He gave rise to so many
great singers who were champions of the common man. It is indeed a time to celebrate and come
together at PBD Don & Ann Brown Theatre in West Palm Beach, July 13 – August
5. For ticket information contact the
box office at (561) 514-4042 or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org
