Musical Dec 31 - Jan 23, 2011
All shows sold out
Woody Guthrie’s American Song
Songs and writings by Woody Guthrie
Conceived and adapted by Peter Glazer
Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Jeff Waxman
Directed by Elizabeth Craven
This stirring musical journey uses his own words to follow legendary singer-songwriter Woody Guthrie on the cross country travels that inspired his songs about American life and events during the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era. Featuring over two dozen of Woody Guthrie's most famous ballads and folk songs including “Bound for Glory” and “This Land Is Your Land.”
CAST: Mary Gannon-Graham, Shannon Rider, Brent Lindsay, Jim Peterson and Tyler Costin.
MUSICIANS: Dave Zirbel, Chris Rovetti, Jim Peterson and Tim Sarter.
Single Tickets: $35 General
$32 Seniors 65 and Over
$25 For our Under 30's (pre-sale only)
$20 Teen Discount Night Ages 12-19
$35 All Tickets at the Door
Call 707.763.8920 or click the button at the upper left to buy online
Reviewed by David Templeton, bohemian.com
"Cinnabar's inventive, satisfying production starts the year off with a winner"
The superb cast—Shannon Rider, Jim Peterson, Mary Gannon Graham and Tyler Costin—is consistently mesmerizing, morphing in and out of various characters as the play traces Guthrie's travels through the Oklahoma dustbowl, Depression-era tent cities and work camps, pre-war New York City and more.
Reviewed by Sam Hurwitt, Marin IJ
"Guthrie's classic tunes are played deftly by Chris Rovetti on fiddle, mandolin and harmonica; Tim Sarter on standup bass and Dave Zirbel on banjo, lap steel and acoustic guitar, with Peterson joining them on guitar more often than not. Sometimes a song is overlaid with reprises of other songs, which clash more often than they blend smoothly, but the individual numbers are so well done that it's hard to mind. Shannon Rider and Mary Gannon Graham harmonize beautifully on "Worried Man" and "Ludlow Massacre," and Lindsay and Peterson have an amusing duet as rival street buskers Woody and Cisco singing "New York Town" in "the skiddiest of all Skid Rows." Graham does a great jazzy nightclub blues version of "Hard, Ain't It Hard" and a stirring rendition of "The Sinking of the Reuben James.""
"The show boasts 27 songs, nearly every one a classic, from the rousing "Hard Travelin'" and "End of My Line" to the familiar favorites "Do Re Mi" and "Nine Hundred Miles." They make it mighty hard not to smile, clap and sing along, and I don't know why you'd even try."
Reviewed by David Templeton
Click on the Green Arrow
under the heading January 5, 2011. Be sure your speakers are turned on, this a verbal review.
This poignant production satisfies from start to finish, and is a “must see” remembrance of American spunk. Director Elizabeth Craven takes the script and turns eight talented performers and one small space into a convincing and cohesive ensemble performance."
Cari Lynn Pace,
Member SFBATCC
