By Rick A. Elina
July, 2009
Rarely does a day’s news cycle fail to remind us of the current economic downturn. No one is spared from the constant barrage of commentary that prices are high, wages are low, unemployment is rampant and factories everywhere are closing. And oh yes, consumer confidence is now measured in degrees of consumer uncertainty. Thankfully, escape from these harsh realities lies just around the corner at your local air-conditioned multiplex where the latest multi-million dollar blockbusters are showing for the price of a drive thru combo meal. Super-sized. Fight the urge to escape! Instead go see Theatre Three’s production of Woody Guthrie’s American Song, a musical biography of the late Woody Guthrie. This show will take you back in time to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when prices were high, wages were low and 25 per cent of the country was thrown out of work. Do we need more of the same? Yes, the inspirational message of the two-dozen songs performed, a mere fraction of the 3,000 song lyrics written by the late folk singer, is that the American workingman… and woman have an indomitable spirit.
That acute observer of the Depression-era depressed, author John Steinbeck, once wrote about Mr. Guthrie, “…there is nothing sweet about Woody, and there is nothing sweet about the songs he sings. But there is something more important for those who still listen. There is the will of a people to endure and fight against oppression. I think we call this the American spirit.”
To quote John Steinbeck here is completely appropriate. The set and costumes designed by Bruce R. Coleman will have you searching the program for a character named Tom Joad. Theatre Three’s basement space has all the trappings of an Oklahoma dustbowl without the dust.
The ensemble cast, performed well together musically. Daniel Svoboda, Willy Welch and Doug Jackson on banjo exhibited great versatility on several different instruments. Christine Harpine was an absolute virtuoso on the violin, though she mostly remained off-stage, and that’s unfortunate.
Vocally, there were a couple of “dead spots” where the lyrics seemed to drop to the floor before reaching the other side of the room, especially as the actors moved around the limited basement space. However, the vocal quality of N. Wilson King stood out among her cast mates in terms of richness and consistency. Alexander Roos singing “Dust Storm Disaster” was among my favorite numbers performed. “We loaded our jalopies and piled our families in, we rattled down that highway to never come back again.”
Maybe Tom Joad was there after all.
Woody Guthrie American Song is currently running at Theatre Three through July 26, 2009. For more information or to purchase tickets call 214-871-3300 or visit Theatre3Dallas.com
Rick A. Elina is a playwright based in Plano, Texas and is the theatre Critic for the North Dallas Gazette.
