Woody Guthrie: My Latest Fling

Okay.  So the thing that has been consuming my life for the last few weeks is Woody Guthrie’s American Song, a musical that is mostly a revue of Woody Guthrie music (and I dare you to name 2 WG songs, not counting “This Land Is Your Land”).  The story is sort of about his life, and all the words in the show are taken from his writings, books, and journals.  The first act kind of wanders around the Dust Bowl in the 30s, showing scenes of life then, people are broke and barefoot but still have hope and pride.  Act 2 takes place in the 40s in New York City, where people have a little more money, and everyone has shoes (some people even have jewelry), and they are still hopeful.

I am not explaining it very well, maybe, but that’s because I haven’t figured out how to put into words this musical that – at every single performance so far, and that is 5 previews and 8 performances total – receives a standing ovation every single night.  And these are old people, people who (we joke) knew Woody Guthrie personally, people who did have friends on the Good Reuben James (show reference!).  They haul themselves and each other to their feet in order to clap arrhythmically because they are just so, so happy and so, so hopeful.  I thought it would be cheesy and silly, but it’s actually pretty inspiring every time I see it.  And they sing along!  My God, it’s just wonderful.

And who would have expected that this would be the show that a) has me working the hardest out of the 3 shows I’ve done at Marin, or b) we could really use another crew person backstage?  There are numerous set changes, and while the actors do a lot of the work, I spend quite a bit of time onstage looking rather out of place and trying not to make eye contact with anyone in the audience.  But I’m just grateful they didn’t want to costume me.  When I’m not onstage, I am most likely moving around quickly backstage, unless it’s the second act in which case I have a half hour break that I usually spend doing a crossword puzzle.  Sometimes a Cryptogram.

Overall, this show is pretty fun (more fun than I think I had expected) and it just extended another week, so it’ll be running through June 27th.  Maybe July 2nd, if it gets extended another week, although that seems ambitious.  For now though, it’s Monday, so I’m going to stop thinking about it and think instead about my new Jen Lancaster book and catching up on all the episodes of Glee that I’ve missed.