Theatre in Review: Lonesome Traveler (59E59)

	Jennifer Leigh Warren, Justin Flagg. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Lonesome Traveler offers a bountiful examination of folk music in its years of mainstream popularity, beginning in the late 1920s, when folklorists began recording and preserving the music of Appalachian Mountain dwellers, through its mid-century heyday of Pete Seeger and The Seekers, and on to the moment in 1965 when Bob Dylan stepped onto the stage of the Newport Folk Festival, and, with a single electric chord, short circuited an entire musical genre. Featuring a gifted cast of singers who channel the styles of folk music icons without directly imitating them, Lonesome Traveler examines how these songs found new forms of expression in successive generations. We also see how they provided a kind of running commentary on decades of social turmoil and change, forming a kind of people's history of the United States.

Dave Mickey's multimedia design plays a key role in forging the connections between music and the real world. When Justin Flagg, channeling Pete Seeger, gives us "So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya," we see images of Okies fleeing the Dust Bowl. Woody Guthrie's "Plane Wreck Over Los Gatos (Deportees)" is a bitter commentary on this country's treatment of immigrants. "Talkin' Union" warns organizing workers that they will reviled and accused of undermining the World War II defense effort. And, of course, Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and the Odetta classic "All My Trials" reflect the realities of a nation plunging into a decade of war and political assassinations. All of these are accompanied by indelible images from the American past.

There's plenty of music-making for its own sake, too, with such well-loved items as "This Land is Your Land;" "Guantanamera," based on a poem by the Cuban revolutionary philosopher José Marti; a dynamic medley of "John Henry" and "If I Had a Hammer;" "Michael, Row the Board Ashore," in a version that features a stunning a capella passage; and "Goodnight Irene." All these and many more are delivered by a young company of singers and musicians who evince a deep respect for this deep-dyed American tradition.

The evening is dominated by Flagg, who acts as narrator and emcee, standing in for Seeger and others, yet blending in nicely when it comes time to do "Puff, the Magic Dragon," à la Peter, Paul, and Mary. Jamie Drake handles the Judy Collins/Joan Baez beat, especially a radiant version of "Turn, Turn, Turn;" Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper shines in numbers made famous by Glenn Yarbrough, Theodore Bikel, and others. Anthony Manough offers a powerful rendition of the Lead Belly classic, "Goodnight, Irene."

In some ways the standout is Jennifer Leigh Warren, whose shiver-inducing voice shines especially in a mini-medley of "All My Trials" and "We Shall Overcome." All of the performers are fine musicians; if you attend, you will experience some superb work on guitars, banjos, and bass. The rest of the design package, including Thomas S. Giamario's set and lighting, Pamela Shaw's costumes, and, most especially, Jonathan Burke's marvelously clear sound design, is all fine. (Some more time and effort could be expended on the production's wigs, all of which are transparently false-looking.)

The show climaxes with Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," and indeed it was all over, as the rock revolution displaced folk music forever, relegating it to the special interest bin in record stores. This leads to the slightly troubling aspect of Lonesome Traveler. The writer/director, James O'Neil, handles the cast nicely, but his narrative is sometimes a tad too jokey and facetious, especially when trying to recreate the atmosphere of a mid-60s television broadcast, complete with laughtrack. Also, even as the show makes a case for the vital role that folk music once played in American culture, it seems more than a little sad that it is being presented in such a curatorial way in an Off Broadway theatre. Some of the songs are indelibly associated with the singers who made them famous, and the talented young people here are a generation removed from the music; at times it shows in a certain lack of gritty authenticity -- when they sing about the Depression, the Dust Bowl, and racial strife, it isn't quite the same thing.

Still, if you love these songs, and thrill to fine musicianship, you are pretty certain to enjoy Lonesome Traveler. (If you liked Texas in Paris at the York Theatre a couple of months ago, you'll probably be over the moon here.) The audience is given ample opportunity to join in, vocally; by the penultimate number, "How Can I Keep From Singing," I bet you'll find that this is a question that answers itself. -- David Barbour