My overall impression
A well-acted, well-sung, well-played impersonation of that 100% American, Woodie Guthrie. I went in to this one-man show as an aficionado of American folk music, and a music historian who often teaches about Woodie Guthrie, folk music, and the American Left.
The show is a beautiful piece of living history, woven pretty seamlessly from jokes, anecdotes, and some of Guthrie’s most famous and moving songs. Guthrie was an artist before he was a folk singer, and the story of his life (as told to an imaginary audience at a union hall sometime about 1940) is illustrated by his own wonderfully free sketches, historic photos, and some shocking video of the 1% getting its way during the Depression.
Just like the real Guthrie, Noojin wants you to sing along, and our small audience (come on, people, get in there before it closes!) did it’s best with standards like “Union Maid,” “So Long It’s Been Good to Know Yuh,” and (of course) “This Land Is Your Land” — sung, I’ll happily note, with all the Commie verses we never learned in school left in.
