As if sounding the Book of Revelation’s warning of the Lord’s wrath to come upon the wicked through their destruction of the earth, Asolo Rep’s version of Frank Galati’s theatrical adaptation of John Steinbeck “The Grapes of Wrath” begins with sounds of crash and destruction. Twenty-eight actors and musicians under faded opening light face us to render life as it involves their characters in 1938.
Especially to the central Joad family, the time means the Depression (via Banks and landlords) has left them without their home, and the Dust Bowl Destruction of top soil has left them without means to work or buy food and drink. We find the Okies desperate to pursue the promise of these things -- their American dream -- to be fulfilled in California. Their aims are not so different from people all the way up to now, if they are willing to work hard.
The Joads want also to hold together as a family and keep their dignity. During the course of their journey west, they lose members to death and running away. But they also accept others as fellow members of the human family. Ma, in a key performance by Peggy Roeder, imparts much of her indomitable spirit to all. When something or someone breaks her heart, we feel her pain. She passes joy, even if won with difficulty, to daughter Rose of Sharon. Kristen Lynne Blossom blossoms with strength in her come-to-realize conclusion as Rose.
Social injustice, seduction and exploitation of the poor, environmental and health problems, class and racial prejudice, law used unlawfully by those (like crooked police) who should enforce it fairly, capitalistic greed causing the plight of workers (especially migrants and those lacking unions or government help), homelessness -- all are illustrated in the stories of the Joads and those they meet during their odyssey.
Tom Joad (a magnetic, reflective Christian Conn), honorably discharged early from prison for a killing, however justified, has come home to find it is no longer home. He’s picked up former preacher Jim Casy (well spoken Andrew Sellon, a seemingly natural philosopher). When Tom has to assume leadership of the trip, due to the beaten-down resignation of his Pa (Douglas Jones, effective being non-effective) and hopelessness of his Uncle John (David Breitbarth, well resigned), Casy lends powerful support.
David S. Howard as grumpy Grampa Joad makes us realize the importance of the grapes he longs to taste in California. He shows a hopeful spirit that lives after his death in that of his wife. Carolyn Michel’s spontaneous Gramma summons God into the family’s midst. Samantha Crawford makes an assured young Ruthie. Always involved with girls, cute Jefferson McDonald’s cocky young Al Joad ends looking forward to a happy marriage and better future, even if not with the family. Anne-Marie Cusson is sturdy as a number of different characters who become involved, as are Amanda Lynn Mullen, Bernard Balbot, and Don Walker, with the Joads‘ stops and starts.
Tim Grimm sings and plays guitar well for his own relevant-to-the-times compositions and acts to convey mood and information between scenes. Tyla Abercrumbie’s several narratives also have resonance.
Not one of the actors taking multiple supporting roles is miscast. Lighting and sound are properly varied, though sometimes sounds compete. The mostly well worn costumes could not be more appropriate; all distinguish the characters who wear them as much as do props and dialogue. Director Michael Donald Edwards proves adept at handling a crowded stage and shifting moods. His past impeccable direction of epic theater, though, gives way here to melodramatic excesses and to a more recent trend at Asolo Rep: over-production. Busyness is all! We get the burying of Grampa in one trap, camp fire coming up from another, a stillborn baby thrown into a downstage stream that also becomes a river used as a swimming hole, rainfall upstage, a blow-up.
Musical scene intros embellish later self-explanatory activities or are repeated visually by maps, and there are other projections. (An early one advertises a new car to see America in -- thus introducing a satirical note into a non-satirical drama.) The Joads’ truck gets moved on and off and around, seemingly incessantly, but we never see the crammed inside. There’s a mixture of suggestive scenery (a sign over a U. S. camp and a dance floor, for instance) and detailed scenery (the final box car). The overall impression is that a lot of wow technique leads to a story’s end that takes awfully long coming. Maybe the idea is to duplicate the Joads’ attempt to endure. Unfortunately, too many around me did not do so and may have missed the real importance of this well-adapted and acted performance of classic literature.
