The lights on the stage of the Mertz Theatre at Asolo Rep have barely gone down when the cast of “Woody Sez” reappears on the mezzanine level of the lobby, toting their instruments through the dozens of people already assembled for the Sunday afternoon “hootenanny.”
Audience members participate with the cast of "Woody Sez", who hosted a "hootenanny," after their Sunday matinee. (Photo by Casey Brooke Lawson)
Some have brought a guitar, ukulele, harmonica, washboard, metal pot or accordion to add to the guitar, bass, mandolin and fiddle the cast members bring to the gatherings, although most bring just their voices and their applause.
The Sunday hootenannies, which continue June 14 and 21, when the show closes, have drawn more than 100 people each week upstairs at the Asolo, some ticket holders, others who come specifically for the sing-alongs.
“It’s uniformly a blast wherever we go,” said David Lutken, “deviser” of “Woody Sez,” a musical that explores the life and music of folk singer and social activist Guthrie. “Interestingly, it’s very different from one place to another, even from one coast of Florida to another. It’s interesting the songs people come with. Sometimes we know them all and sometimes we learn things.”
David Finch, a member of the cast of "Woody Sez," sings with Betty Comora in a hootenanny, after their Sunday matinee show at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Fla., on June 7, 2015. Photo by Casey Brooke Lawson)
Last Sunday, Lutken prefaced the hootenanny with an invitation to buy drinks at the bar — “The more you drink, the better we sound” — before launching into “one of my favorite songs and one of Woody Guthrie’s favorite songs” — “Columbus Stockade Blues.”
Lingering back by the staircase was Bill McCullough of Venice, who had brought his case of harmonicas in various keys.
“I love the whole group of them,” he said, referring to Guthrie and his contemporaries. “My father rode the rails about the same time as Woody.”
Kevin Gravelle brought his guitar but didn’t take it out of the case.
“I’m here to watch. This is like a great little event. Woody Guthrie, he’s a great musician. It’s all about the music. I wanted to come for a performance but I didn’t have the money,” he said.
The circle of musicians around Lutken and costars Darcie Deaville, Helen Jean Russell and David Finch opened up to admit Rebecca Heintz and an accordion she borrowed from her friend Chuck Berster because her own was in for repairs.
“It’s always fun playing with good musicians,” said Heintz, who professed to be mostly a piano player and “not very good at accordion.”
Last Sunday, Lutken was playing his Martin M-38 six-string, one of an “arsenal” of instruments used in “Woody Sez.” That guitar is a newer version of his 1983 Martin M-38 150th anniversary edition, nicknamed “The Three Holer” because Lutken has played it so hard for so many years that he’s worn two additional holes in the face of the instrument.
On opening night, Lutken strode onto the stage, grabbed the Three-Holer and leapt into “This Train is Bound for Glory,” only to have the guitar’s bridge, where the strings attach to the body of the guitar, snap in two.
“I’ve played it the last 32 years. As you can tell by looking at it, I play it a lot and play it pretty hard,” said Lutken. “What happens over time is the bridge begins to tilt, and the bridge is thinnest at the front nearest the sound hole. It split in half right there and instantly became unplayable. I had to switch to my very, very wonderful substitute guitar, which was given to me by the cast.”
The Three-Holer has been repaired by a local luthier and is back in the show.
The two Martin guitars are among 18 acoustic instruments used in the show, several of which belong to Lutken. A third Martin, a 317 Parlor guitar from 1860, played by Russell in her scenes as Guthrie’s mother, came from Lutken’s stint on Broadway in 1989 in a show called “The Civil War.”
“I was playing my old three-hole guitar, which only had one hole then. I told the producers that that guitar, the M-38, was completely wrong for the Civil War period. Guitars were much smaller things generally, and that they really should find a parlor guitar,” he said. The producers gave him the go-ahead to find one, and New York City being what it is, he did.
“It had been broken and put back together, so it didn’t cost all that much,” he said. “I bought it from a guy in its original case, also made in 1860, called a coffin case. Today it’s been pointed out to me several times, if you look on the Internet for guitars from 1860, there’s a range of prices. In general the cases are worth more than the guitars. There are many guitars from that era that have been preserved.”
The cast also plays a variety of violins, including David Finch’s “great-great granddaddy’s 7/8-size violin made in Mittenwald, Germany” in the 1830s.
“David started playing the violin when he was a little kid, and he wanted very much to play THAT violin,” said Lutken. “He’s held onto it ever since. It’s quite a beautiful instrument.”
INTERESTED?
Hootenannies follow the matinee performances of "Woody Sez" June 14 and 21 at Asolo Repertory Theatre, FSU Center for the Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, starting at about 4 p.m. Free. For tickets to performances of the musical: 351-8000; www.AsoloRep.org.
