Music Downloads: Tracks that Inspired THE GRAPES OF WRATH Musical Score

The live musical score put together by musical director Allen Robertson for THE GRAPES OF WRATH has generated a huge buzz in the Austin music community.

At once gracefully appropriated and historically accurate, the score adds another layer to this gorgeous production. But its origins have been somewhat of a mystery to ZACH audiences ...

... until now! Z-News readers, we are happy to present free music downloads of 6 tracks that inspired the lush melodic musings of THE GRAPES OF WRATH musical score:

• "Dust Bowl Children" by Peter Rowan
  (Performed by John Pointer in the show)
  
  
• "66" by Michael Smith
  (Performed by John Pointer, Zach Thompson and Paul Mitchell Wright)
  
  
• "Pastures of Plenty" by Woody Guthrie
  (Performed by Sarah Gay, John Pointer, Rich Upton, Paul Mitchell Wright, Zach Thompson, Marc Pouhe and Jarret Mallon)
  
  
• "Down to the River to Pray" by Alison Krauss
  (Performed by Sarah Gay, Rich Upton, John Pointer, Marc Pouhe and Zach Thompson)
  
  
• "I Ain't Got No Home" by Woody Guthrie
  (Performed by Rich Upton)
  
  
• "Pass Me Not, O' Gentle Savior" by Fanny J. Crosby and William H. Doane
  (Performed by Sarah Gay and John Pointer)

Enjoy the tunes, and stay tuned for more MP3 downloads from ZACH Theatre's original production.

If you still haven't see the show, please contact our box office at (512) 476-0541, x. 1 to reserve your tickets, or buy tickets online.

It's Another Wilde Night at ZACH: THE GRAPES OF WRATH Wilde Party Is This Thursday!

Did you know ZACH Theatre hosts a GLBT night for each of its productions? Well, it's true. The Wilde Party is ZACH's outreach to the lesbian and gay community -- and the people who love them -- held on the third Thursday of each ZACH production.

The Wilde Party celebrating ZACH's newest production, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, is this Thursday (March 26), starting at 6:15pm. The party is a pre-show mixer and cocktail hour on the new party deck outside ZACH's Kleberg Theatre for the Austin gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Thursday's Wilde Party will be catered by Rose Russo, who always puts out a fantastic spread. The party's followed with a 7:30pm performance of the THE GRAPES OF WRATH, a play that has been taking Austin audiences and critics by storm!

Come to the party even if you can't stay afterwards for the show, and feel free to add your friends to the Evite.

Call ZACH's box office at 476-0541, x. 1 today to purchase your tickets for Thursday's GRAPES OF WRATH performance (be sure to mention the Wilde Party for special seating).

The Curious Case of Zachary Scott and John Steinbeck

One interesting fact about legendary actor Zachary Scott is that his wife, Elaine Anderson, married John Steinbeck one week after divorcing him.

Zachary met Elaine while studying theater at the University of Texas , and the couple married on his 21st birthday in 1935. Both had successful careers in theater -- Zachary became one of the most notorious actors on stage and screen and Elaine broke gender barriers by becoming one of the first female stage managers in theater history.

Fifteen years after their marriage, however, the couple filed for divorce amid a sea of controversy surrounding the marriage. Elaine cited mental cruelty as the reason for the divorce, but it was rumored that she met and fell in love with Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck when the couple moved to California.

True or not, the rumors still swirl, and local Austinites are calling the theatre to share their stories about their experiences with the legendary cad of film and his leading lady Elaine.

Tickets to The Grapes of Wrath are available online.

Off SXSW's Beaten Path: Austin's Independent Music Scene Takes Stage at ZACH

No SXSW badge or wristband is needed to see this show.

Though not a part of South by Southwest, THE GRAPES OF WRATH runs during the entirety of the festival and is a folkloric, Woody Guthrie-esque musical experience sure to knock the socks off Austin visitors and locals seeking live music but trying to avoid the SXSW crowds. (ZACH is offering free, reserved parking for its patrons attending this weekends shows, too!)

Led by award-winning musician Allen Robertson, founding member of The Biscuit Brothers, THE GRAPES OF WRATH’s four-part band accompanies the play. Robertson brings to life 1930's-era hymns in a fashion that harkens Austin’s legendary independent music scene. After all, Austin is one of the few places still around where using a saw as a musical instrument is as normal today as it was in the 1930's.

ZACH Theatre Artistic Director Dave Steakley asked that the music be stripped down to reflect the time period. Ranging from accapella to harmonized vocals to simple scoring from a guitar or chiming accordion melodies, "the most powerful emotional moments come from traditional hymns like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior," Steakley said in an interview about the play. An added bonus is ZACH’s licensing of the original Steppenwolf Theatre score, including a schmaltzy comic song in which used car salesmen try to pawn off wrecked cars on “Okies” fleeing their dust-covered homes and farms for promised opportunities in California.

Music is at the core of the stage performance of THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Music aficionados will not be disappointed with the emotionally moving, well placed, period-appropriate music in ZACH's production. And during the megalithic SXSW festival, a ticket to this show at Austin’s longest running live theatre company is an independent music find that festival goers will enjoy discovering.

Tickets available at ZACHTheatre.org or at the theatre at the corner of Riverside Dr. & S. Lamar (just a few blocks from downtown).

SHOOTING STAR Reaches New Heights

The art of storytelling is playwright Steven Dietz's genius, and in SHOOTING STAR, a romantic comedy about two lovers -- one from Austin, one from Boston -- Dietz tells a startlingly close-to-home story that has been leaving audiences awestruck at the poignance, grace and humor they see on stage with this ZACH Theatre production.

"Stories told this well don't come around too often," Austin Chronicle art critic Barry Pineo said in a review published this morning. Austin360.com blogger Jeanne Claire van Ryzin agrees: "Dietz makes reality poetic."

And the poetic realism of this play has been captivating audience after audience ever since the play began. It strikes close to home, it's a story we can all relate to and, as AustinLiveTheatre.com blogged, "SHOOTING STAR trades on a fascination similar to that mined by www.classmates.com. 'What ever happened to ...?' 'Do you really, really want to know?'"

Oh, yes. We do!

"(Barbara) Chisholm and (Jamie) Goodwin (the show's actors) so naturally and totally inhabit their roles, they manage to cross that magical line where storytelling becomes as compelling as life," Pineo said.

One thing that's exceedingly clear to night-after-night of unmoving audiences is this is a familiar tale. It's about what happens when nostalgia and coincidence collide, the beauty of such happenstance, and the power and permanence of human love.

"Dietz’s gift as a writer is an acute attention to our modern language. He elevates ordinary conversation to a kind of music with precise rhythms and exquisitely timed phrases. In Dietz’s hands conversation sounds natural, but smart," van Ryzin wrote.

"See it!" Pineo concluded. And you still can -- but the show closes soon.

Tickets are available online.

P.S. An online photo gallery from the show has been posted on ZACH's website. KUT's radio interview with the actors from SHOOTING STAR is available here.

Don't take our word for it ...

Austin Live Theatre, one of Austin's preeminent blogs on the local theatre scene, posted a review today of ZACH Theatre's production of THE GRAPES OF WRATH.

Stay tuned to our blog for free music downloads, backstage insight, and special events and discounts for this production!

THE GRAPES OF WRATH Opening Night: "Wow!"

"This is a play everyone deserves to see," one audience member said as ZACH Theatre's opening of THE GRAPES OF THE WRATH came to a close. The audience poured out into the lobby for a champagne reception and the word on everyone's mouth was "Wow!"

The reflective faces turned joyous as the cast and crew made their way to the reception, and everyone involved with the production knew they had put something on stage that was truly special.

It was a Saturday performance that many of our Twitter followers are still talking about Monday morning, and the audience reached a clear consensus: This show came to life at the perfect time, with the perfect cast and at the perfect place -- ZACH.

ZACH's Artistic Director, Dave Steakley, knew this production would be a hit in the Austin community. "Steinbeck's beautifully constructed language marries the simplicity of the common man's earnestness to the progressive ideas of how to create change that impacts a family, a community and a country."

The spirit of charity was felt by all as the collection box for Mobile Loaves and Fishes filled up with donations to benefit the Austin community. As Tom Joad says in the play, “Maybe I can do somethin' ... maybe find out what it is that’s wrong and see if they ain’t somethin' that can be done about it. Maybe it’s like Casy says, 'A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just a little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody. Wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there.'"

THE GRAPES OF WRATH Cast And Crew Reach Out to the Austin Homeless Community

Last night was the first performance of THE GRAPES OF WRATH, and, during the performance, a collection point benefiting Mobile Loaves and Fishes was set up by the door. The audience was fantastic and very generous, but there's still weeks of work to be done ...

From the onset of this production, ZACH Theatre's Artistic Director Dave Steakley worked to make sure Austin's "least among us" homeless community was not forgotten. Early on, Steakley directed the cast to join the estimated 3,625 homeless individuals in Austin to prepare for the show -- about the struggle of a Depression-era family that became homeless after fleeing their dust covered farm in Oklahoma for work in California.

From Dave Steakley's Director's Notes: "We have a lot of Austinites who sleep out on the streets at night and don’t always know where their next meal is coming from. Judy Knotts, an angel in our community who works as a volunteer serving homeless citizens, tells me one of the big issues for our homeless friends is the loss of identity, the lack of eye contact that ‘persons with means’ make with a homeless person, and the consequent loss of dignity. It can be out of fear or guilt or irritation that we don’t engage a homeless person. THE GRAPES OF WRATH reminds me that we are all a part of this community and we have a responsibility to act with compassion to everyone who calls Austin home."

ZACH Theatre's collection point for Mobile Loaves and Fishes will be at all THE GRAPES OF WRATH performances, and collections will go directly to benefit the the Austin homeless community.

Suggested items needed right now include:

• Sun screen and chap stick, small travel sizes.
• New baseball style caps.
• New briefs or boxer shorts for men.
• Spring clothes, tee shirts for men or women, new or gently used blue jeans.

Visit ZACH's web site to find a list of other suggested donations, such as blankets, socks and food items, when you buy tickets for the show.

Free MP3 Downloads: A Sneak Peek Into THE GRAPES OF WRATH's Live Musical Score

ZACH Theatre opens THE GRAPES OF WRATH this weekend.

The stage adaptation of John Steinback's masterpiece uniquely incorporates music into the play -- and, of course, ZACH's adaptation has musical flair that is uniquely Austin.

The music, under the direction of Allen Robertson, (one of the creative duo in "The Biscuit Brothers"), punctuates the dramatic action with orchestrations inspired by music of the 1930's. Sometimes it is just a vocal accapella or harmonizing with other vocals or simple underscoring from a guitar, accordion or a traditional instrument like a saw.

Powerful, emotional moments in ZACH's production are underscored by stirring renditions of traditional hymns like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot and Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior (MP3 downloads are below). There is also a wonderful comic song in which used car salesmen, led by John Pointer, try to unload their old wrecks by taking advantage of the poor "Okies" who were fleeing for California.

But you don't have to take our word for it. Here are a couple tracks from the show to wet your whistle:

Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

Stay tuned, we'll be posting more MP3s from THE GRAPES OF WRATH throughout its run.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH performances begin at 7:30pm tonight, and opening night's champagne toast is this Sunday after the show. During opening week, you can buy one ticket and get a second ticket free by calling our box office at (512) 476-0541, ext. 1, and mentioning ZACH's Z News blog.

Austin Theatre Brings Economic Realities to Life

Stocks plummet, jobs are lost, a million publications report the bad news. But leave it to Austin to address current economic hardship with a wonderfully crafted, epic performance of John Steinbeck's THE GRAPES OF WRATH.

For many Austinites, it doesn't take a newspaper to tell them that times are rough. Talking with their families about job loss and this generation's financial struggles, however, might require a different, more relatable teaching tool. ZACH Theatre began its timely production of THE GRAPES OF WRATH for precisely this reason.

"I had some sense that economically we weren't going to be in the same position as a nation that we were in last year," Dave Steakley, ZACH's artistic director, said about adding THE GRAPES OF WRATH to 2009's production schedule. "We always experience economic change during the year of a Presidential election of some kind," he said, "although I didn't know we would find ourselves in a set of circumstances that would begin to mirror what Americans were experiencing in the 1930's."

THE GRAPES OF WRATH tells the story of the Joad family amidst the backdrop of 1930's America. The Joads didn't envision America's bread basket suddenly turning into a dust bowl, and during their trip from their dust-covered farm in Oklahoma to California the Joad's 11-member family dwindles to only four members in the final scene.

Family is at the heart of THE GRAPES OF WRATH production. Audience members will find themselves inspired by the sacrifice, charity and ultimate redemption of the Joad family's journey that celebrates family, determination, love and hope.

If nothing else, THE GRAPES OF WRATH will provide families with a way to talk about tough times with teenagers and young adults who might be experiencing a financial downturn for the first time in their lives.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH begins tomorrow and plays through May 10 on ZACH's Kleberg Stage. Tickets are available online.