Review: Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie, Underbelly Boulevard

Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was one of the most significant figures in American folk music, most commonly known for the song ‘This Land is Your Land’ and popularising the slogan ‘This machine kills fascists’. Guthrie was a key influence to people like Pete Seeger, Joe Strummer, Billy Bragg and most of all a young Bob Dylan. There are only two original songs on Dylan’s first album and one of them is ‘Song to Woody’. 

Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie takes us through Guthrie’s life from birth to death as a musical biography. David M. Lutken, who devised the show and plays the titular role, leads us through a carefully chosen series of Guthrie’s songs, linking them to key events in his life. The story spans from his childhood to the Great Depression, from the Dust Bowl to the Merchant Marines in WW2, and through his later life to his eventual passing from Huntington’s disease. 

At its heart, Woody Sez is gig theatre. Four musicians tell Guthrie’s story through his music with a blurred boundary between theatre and concert. Supported by a backdrop of simple posters showing Guthrie throughout his life as well as some of his drawings, the stage is filled with musical instruments ⎯ they won’t need anything more.  

Lutken is warm and engaging, capturing both the man and his music. He even looks the part, bearing a passing resemblance to the photos behind. He slips neatly between song and spoken word, letting the story flow. He’s been doing this role for over twenty years and it is far from just a job: he’s worked with Guthrie’s family and the Woody Guthrie Archive. He is ably supported by Raquel Chavez, Nyssa Grant and David Finch who play an endless list of instruments, beautifully switching between them, as well as acting as multiple characters as we move through Guthrie’s life. 

There is a strong connection to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which is fitting as Guthrie wrote ‘The Ballad of Tom Joad’ after reading the book. Both approach the same topics, featuring ordinary people struggling with abject poverty and the long journey in a car that might break down at any moment, searching for work and a better life. 

In fact, sometimes it’s hard to tell where the politics end and the music begins. Guthrie spent his life writing about inequality, poverty, migration, and socialism: these themes, ever-present in his music, also run throughout Woody Sez.  How sad it is that these songs, some close to 100 years old, can be just as relevant today. 

That is perhaps the greatest strength of Woody Sez. It doesn’t treat Guthrie’s songs as artefacts belonging to another time, another America. It reminds us that the things he was angry about haven’t gone away. We may not have a Depression or Dust Bowl now, but we do have deportees shackled on planes and flown out of countries.  

There is a lot of Guthrie’s life to fit into the show and occasionally it can feel a little rushed as a result, but as a piece of gig theatre, it puts the music at the very heart and lets the songs tell the story. The talent of both Lutken and the supporting musicians mean that it’s a pretty compelling way to tell it.  

The show ends with a return to ‘This Land Is Your Land’ and a chance for the audience to sing along, wich makes a lovely conclusion. If it leaves you wanting more, the team have show CDs, with profits going to Huntington’s Disease Association. For more Guthrie himself, I’m partial to The Asch Recordings, which has original recordings from the 1940s.

Devised by David M. Lutken with Nick Corley and Darcie Deaville, Helen J. Russell and Andy Teirstein
Directed by Nick Corley
Musically directed by David M. Lutken

Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie plays at Underbelly Boulevard until Saturday 19 September.