Woody Sez: The Life and Music of Woody Guthrie, Underbelly Boulevard Soho

(Photo Credit: Jake Oseland)

Part-biography (told from Guthrie’s perspective) and part protest, this collective actor-muso musical tells the life story of ‘the original folk hero’ using his own music and some of his own words. Walking through The Great Depression and the Second World War, comes a man with no banner and no megaphone, just a song in his heart and words painted onto a guitar ‘This machine kills fascists’. 

This show was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in two thousand and seven and was highly successful. It returned earlier this year and ran from the fifth to the thirtieth of August, at Underbelly Bristo Square Cowbarn. After its current run at Underbelly Boulevard Soho, it is heading over to the states, where it will be performed from the eighth to the twenty fifth of October at Dupont Underground in Washington DC. 

I’ll start off by admitting that I knew absolutely nothing about Guthrie or his music walking into this, which as an avid musical fan with a masters in the subject, is very unusual for me. Also, I opted not to do research beforehand because of the genre. 

I think bio-musicals are the most marmite genre of musical theatre, either a love or a hate, and I’ve yet to find one I considered middling. This one definitely maintains the theory. 

I’ll admit I felt really awkward being seemingly the youngest person in the audience by decades, but after watching this musical I had to wonder why. Why aren’t more people seeing this musical? Why is this seemingly passing many generations by? 

Fear not, all of this will make sense in due course.

(Photo Credit: Jake Oseland)

The design of the show looks like a page was ripped out of a biography. It’s as minimalistic as Georgette Verdin’s stage direction, and both work so incredibly well because they create the feeling of sitting around a fireside just off a dirt track, listening to someone tell us their life story. This in itself is part of the genius of the show because the focal point is established off the bat without the need to jump straight into the action. 

Instead we are treated to a beautiful, short, pre-show set whilst we wait for Guthrie to tell us his story in his own time. Arguably, this helps with the pacing of the show because it flows with the rhythm of authentic speech and memory blends with outer-world chronology.

It helps that Guthrie’s songs seem to be naturally conducive to a jukebox musical. The placement of them is spot on as they act like musical theatre songs to heighten emotion and highlight key points. Not to mention that they are flawlessly performed by the company consisting of true triple-threats: Raquel Chavez, David Finch, Nyssa Grant and David Lutken (Guthrie). 

(Photo Credit: Roger Maestroianni)

Lutken’s performance is particularly noteworthy as it is less of an impression of Guthrie and more of a heartfelt fan tribute to his impact on the world. A characterisation akin to hearing someone losing themself in reading an autobiography aloud.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I certainly learned a lot from this musical. It’s incredibly relevant for the times we live in now and how a self awakening to the realities of our world can feel. The weight that comes with knowing something is wrong but being unsure what to do about it or feeling a loss at how to effectively advocate for positive change.

The note that strikes a perfect chord is the message that subtle advocacy is just as important as other forms. The fact that it’s possible to transform the world without a banner or a march. A lot of good goes unnoticed. It's easy to feel powerless and under pressure to do something big. 

So okay, Guthrie has gone down in music history as a game-changer with his political music, fighting for freedom and peace. But I think it's worth keeping in mind that, as this musical points out, in his day he was just a guy with a guitar, seeking out work and (in spite of copious amounts of censorship) turning what he lived and saw around him into songs. 

Whose to say the world can’t be changed with a bit of ink on a page? And whose to say that what we think is lost won’t be re-discovered in the future? 

In any case, this musical was eye-opening. You don’t have to be loud to make a difference, just keep doing what you can no matter how small, you never know who is in your audience. 

If, in Guthrie’s words, ‘All you can write is what you see’, then I see an outstanding musical that I could write multiple enthusiastic essays about. 

***** Five Stars 

Age rating: Fifteen plus

Content notes: Mentions/descriptions of physical illness, disease, mental illness, terminal illness, Huntington’s Disease, death, grief/loss/funerals, death of an infant/infanticide, arson/fire, classism/discrimination, poverty, famine, war- specifically World War Two, bombs/guns- heavy politics including protests, censorship, police injustice, fascism/political ideology, the Great Depression, bootlegging, suicide, natural disasters- dust bowls and floods. 

For more information and tickets for the current run at Underbelly Boulevard Soho: https://underbellyboulevard.com/tickets/woody-sez-the-life-music-of-woody-guthrie/