What is it about some songs? You just can’t get them out of your head! ‘We Shall Overcome’ is certainly one of them and Petra Elliott’s delivery of it, at the opening night of Joan Baez – The Road to Woodstock, resonated as well as it did when Baez first delivered it over half a century ago.
Originally written by Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan, Baez has sung the song to thousands of people in many different parts of the world, wherever they were gathered, as one, to protest against war and violence, against racial and religious discrimination, against social injustice, against abuse of human rights or, latterly, in 2008, in support of Barack Obama whom, Baez said, reminded her of another champion she’d once supported, Martin Luther King.
Baez was only 13 when she first heard Pete Seeger singing ‘Where have all the Flowers Gone’, and from that moment on there was never any alternative path for her. In her autobiography she describes being ‘gifted’ with a beautiful singing voice and the musicianship soon followed. But it wasn’t only Seeger’s influence that lit the fire of activism in her heart. Both her grandfathers had been religious ministers and her father, a brilliant physicist born in Mexico, had eventually taken the family to America where they converted to Quakerism and the tenets of pacifism and social justice which Baez has followed to this day.
Wherever there was a conflict that needed a powerful but sweet voice, Baez was there, and meeting with Bob Dylan along the way just multiplied the message for peace.
While we remember Dylan, it was Baez who first introduced him as an unknown to her already devoted following and it is her voice that we equate with so many of the songs they both wrote and sang, such as ‘The Times they are a Changin’’.
The Road to Woodstock presents the songs we remember, whether we were at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, in the US south supporting Martin Luther King, in North Vietnam opposing communists, in Africa for famine relief or Australia just hearing them on the radio or TV; we remembered them again, vividly, when sung by Petra Elliott at Chapel off Chapel – and what a stirling job she did.
This tiny theatre can have questionable sound levels at times but this time they complemented Elliott’s voice, though I did feel that at times the microphone could have been lowered a little, as she seemed to be stretching for it and, from the far right side, where I was sitting, I struggled to hear some of her low, softer notes.
It was a huge task to not only deliver the songs but also the life story of an icon like Joan Baez in a little over an hour and credit must go to Neil Cole for the script. However, there were many gaps that I would have preferred filled with more of Baez’s life, such as the rewards and respect shown her by so many, her songwriting as well as her singing in six different languages. And while Bekkie O’Connor’s performance as Janis Joplin was magnificent, singing another song we will never forget – ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ – it was more of a distraction than a complement to the whole context of the show.
On the other hand, Paul Watson’s powerful delivery of Dylan’s songs, particularly ‘Blowin in the Wind’, were meaningful and clear, especially when coupled with Elliott’s voice.
The Road to Woodstock is an ambitious production, which would have benefited from a program featuring information about the performers, but the uplifting sound of the audience’s voices singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ did, indeed, leave justifiable shivers up your spine.
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Joan Baez – The Road to Woodstock
By Neil Cole
Musical Director: Paul Watson
Cast includes Petra Elliott, Bekkii O’Connor and Paul Watson
Chapel off Chapel, Prahran
chapeloffchapel.com.au
22 April – 3 May 2015
