It would be nice to live in boring, mundane times where one is not constantly reminded about the injustices of this country and art is not always a battle cry. Unfortunately, we are on a trajectory that’s coming back around to familiar historical territory: migrant scapegoating, corrupt leaders abusing power and the common folk caught up in it.
Mercury Theater’s latest production, Woody Guthrie’s American Song, keenly reminds us, wearily and sadly, that history often repeats. Directed by Elizabeth Craven, the musical tribute runs in Petaluma through Jan. 25.
Woody Guthrie was a balladeer-poet-cowboy-hobo who traveled the country by train with a shabby guitar that had a sticker on it that read, “This machine kills fascists.” He wrote songs about the people he encountered during the devastation of the Dust Bowl, Great Depression and World War II. One has probably heard his music and not known it was him.
Guthrie was a prolific American folk songwriter of more than 3,000 songs. American Song features about 28 of these, and they hit hard right now, especially “Deportee” and the iconic “This Land is Your Land.” This reviewer ain’t afraid to say she shed some tears, as did the rest of the audience.
The ensemble (Victor Ballesteros, Samuel Gleason, Hannah Johnson, Tika Moon, Joshua Norwitt and Skyler King), backed by an absolutely sensational three-man band (led by music director Tom Martin with Kenny Blacklock and Gordon Lustig), does well with this piece—not really a theatrical narrative, so much as a musical review with vignettes. They all took off in the second act, especially Norwitt and Johnson, who both sound as world weary as the current era they’re living in and the past era they’re singing about.
Costumes by Adriana Gutierrez well reflect the threadbare, impoverished world of a population worked to the bone. Missy Weaver’s lighting design creates a nostalgic sepia tone at times.
There is some dissonance having a primarily white cast representing the whole of a diversely populated America in the ’30s and ’40s, especially when singing from the perspective of dead Mexican immigrants. That mainly everyone on stage was white, considering Guthrie’s allieship with people of color, seemed an oversight.
However, the poetry and power of Guthrie’s legacy stands. If one is looking for a gentle call to action, they may consider a ticket to American Song.
Mercury Theater presents ‘Woody Guthrie’s American Song’ through Jan. 25 at 3333 Petaluma Blvd. N., Petaluma. Fri & Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. $20–$35. 707.658.9019. mercurytheater.org.
