2012 marks the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, the man who wrote “This Land is Your Land” and countless other folk classics, a man who has had an undeniable impact on the world, as composer, singer, activist and legend.
The rousing “Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie” at Theater J illustrates that impact. Devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley, “Woody Sez” tells the story of Guthrie’s life from the time he started singing for money at six years old.
Lutken, a skilled guitarist and singer, plays Woody, narrating the poverty Guthrie grew up with in Oklahoma, the dust storm of April 1935 that turned wheat fields into an ocean of dust, Guthrie’s endlessly peripatetic life, where he and his wife moved from place to place, living in Hoovervilles while they waited for sharecropping work and finally his entry into California, the place Woody called “the most beautiful place to starve in.”
The show highlights not only the roots of Woody’s social philosophy, but also his later life, when he was invited to appear on radio in New York to sing patriotic songs, sang his liberal songs instead and was censored.
| Onstage |
| ‘Woody Sez’ |
| Where: Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW |
| When: Through Dec. 2 |
| Info: Tickets start at $35; 202-777-3214; theaterj.org |
Along with Lutken, three excellent actor/musicians dramatize the story of Woody’s life: Darcie Deaville, Helen Russell and David Finch (Andy Teirstein will perform from Nov. 20 to Dec. 2). They play everything from guitar and banjo to harmonica and dulcimer, portraying many figures who featured into Guthrie’s story.
Directed by Nick Corley, the show is nicely paced and the songs are offered in varying patterns. Some are sung by the whole ensemble, some by just one or two company members. Lutken and Corley have cleverly threaded some traditional songs among Guthrie’s famous and not-so-famous pieces.
And Corley has allowed the production plenty of movement, so that none of the numbers become static. All the musicians move to their own music while playing guitars, fiddles and other mobile instruments. When they sing a song in which Russell plays the double-bass, Lutken, Deaville and Finch circle around her and turn the number into a dance spectacle.
Luke Hegel-Cantarella’s set for “Woody Sez” is simple. A few chairs are placed on the stage for the singers who are not performing. Against the rear wall of the stage, a projection of Guthrie’s Oklahoma home is visible behind large photographs of Woody himself.
“Woody Sez” is an appropriate tribute to a man who formed the sensibilities of millions through his work as a troubadour and advocate for the poor. It provides sensitive insight into the mindset of the man who realized, when he reached California and found his voice, “I didn’t know the human race was this big.”
