{"id":245571,"date":"2012-11-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/honed-powerful-story-must-go-on\/"},"modified":"2012-11-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T08:00:00","slug":"honed-powerful-story-must-go-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/honed-powerful-story-must-go-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Honed, powerful story must go on"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Hammer, A Bell and A Song to Sing\u201d<\/strong>
\nWHERE: San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza (Downtown)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Thurs. \u2013 Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 & 7 p.m., and Wed. 7 p.m., through Dec. 2<\/strong>
\nINFO: 619-544-0097<\/strong>
\nWEB: sdrep.org<\/strong><\/p>\n

SD REP resurrects protest musical in timely, poignant production<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge | Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Honed,
(l to r) Vaughn Armstrong, Lisa Payton, Jim Mooney and Dave Crossland from \u201cA Hammer, A Bell and A Song to Sing\u201d (Photo by Daren Scott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last season San Diego Repertory Theatre and Associate Artistic Director Todd Salovey endured a catastrophe, and as a result cooked up a small miracle.<\/p>\n

The REP\u2019s original intent was to produce a world-premiere musical based on the life and work of the legendary Pete Seeger, a formidable protest-song writer and performer of the last century. A few days into the rehearsal period, Seeger, now 93, withdrew his permission. Apparently, he decided he didn\u2019t want to see a musical about his life on stage.<\/p>\n

In the grand tradition of \u201cthe show must go on\u201d and rather than abandon the work entirely, writer and director Salovey with his triune survivors \u2013 veteran actor Vaughn Armstrong and guitarists and singers Dave Crossland and Jim Mooney \u2013 cobbled together a script combining a bit of history surrounded by protest songs.<\/p>\n

The trio performed the mongrel mix, titled it \u201cA Hammer, A Bell and a Song to Sing,\u201d and called it a world-premiere workshop. The intent \u2013 and it worked \u2013 was to impel audiences to sing along and \u201cprotest\u201d in the grand old American way, yet within a safe space. No reviews were allowed.<\/p>\n

Just blocks away, a few months earlier, contrasting personnel had been observed, less comfortably and much more grittily, when real protestors \u2013 Occupy San Diego \u2013 gathered at the Civic Plaza. The protests occupied the mind and sank into the soul of conscience, at least in those who happened to see them.<\/p>\n

In one of the most powerful scenes in the enhanced, resurrected and freshly topical \u201cHammer,\u201d the Occupy movement and its genesis are explicated for those of us who were raised in the era of \u201cgovernment is good; government can do no wrong.\u201d Cast members represent the range of Occupy San Diego participants from passerby to opportunist. Armstrong is particularly brilliant as a rather stoned homeless man, one of the one percent. Throughout the show, Armstrong\u2019s facile assumptions of character and attitude are truly a joy.<\/p>\n

The principal storyteller, Armstrong is a classically trained actor, and now it is apparent that during the past year he\u2019s honed his singing and strumming skills to the point where he seems to the manner born. Furthermore, he\u2019s been there historically, serving while other potential draftees fled to Canada. His basic goodness and sincerity shine through every moment of the show. We may protest \u2013 we have always done so \u2013 but we love our country.<\/p>\n

The others \u2013 essentially balladeers and excellent twangers and not actors \u2013 also seem more skilled and confident than before. The gangly and ingratiating Mooney is effective when being the heavy; and the more compact, downright adorable Crossland is excellent in the more poignant moments.<\/p>\n

The most brilliant stroke in the resurrection, however, is the addition of the easy yet powerful Lisa H. Payton, who adds gravitas and credibility. Vocally she is always in control and she strikes resonant chords in consciousness.<\/p>\n

The four sing tout ensemble, in solos, and even in precise, impressive a cappella. Among the songs are Seeger\u2019s \u201cDeep in the Big Muddy,\u201d \u201cIf I Had a Hammer,\u201d and his story \u201cAbiyoyo.\u201d Among other songs are \u201cJohnny Has Gone for a Soldier,\u201d \u201cThe Times They Are a-Changin\u2019,\u201d \u201cThis Little Light of Mine,\u201d \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind,\u201d and \u201cWe Are Climbing Jacob\u2019s Ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is no glitz in \u201cA Hammer, a Bell and a Song to Sing.\u201d Though these characters represent real people and are dressed in real people\u2019s clothes, they are common people, some disenfranchised.<\/p>\n

Even when they might be construed as confrontational, they are safe and we are safe, at least safe enough to sing along, and in the dark, occasionally, when light dawns, to quietly say, \u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Hammer, A Bell and A Song to Sing\u201d WHERE: San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza (Downtown) WHEN: Thurs. \u2013 Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 & 7 p.m., and Wed. 7 p.m., through Dec. 2 INFO: 619-544-0097 WEB: sdrep.org SD REP resurrects protest musical in timely, poignant production By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Honed, powerful story must go on","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}