Goodspeed’s folksy concerts continue
By Christopher Arnott
Hot on the heels of two weeks of concerts by the Broadway/bluegrass hybrid The Playbillies, Goodspeed Musicals is bringing in the actor/ musician David Lutken and his The Seat of the Pants Band for three weekends of shows Sept. 10-27 on the lawn of the Goodspeed Opera House.
Lutken starred in “The Will Rogers Follies” at the Goodspeed in 2018 as the famed cowboy philosopher famous for expressions like “I never met a man I didn’t like” and “I only know what I read in the papers.” It’s a role he also played in the musical original Broadway production in the 1990s. Lutken has also been in several other folksy musicals for the Goodspeed: “Honky Tonk Highway,” “Big River” and “Finian’s Rainbow.”
Lutken’s best known for embodying the radical folksinger Woody Guthrie in a show the actor helped create with the blessing of the Guthrie estate. “Woody Sez” has been performed around the world. In Connecticut, Lutken has done “Woody Sez” at TheaterWorks Hartford in 2014, at the Westport Playhouse in 2017 and at the Ivoryton Playhouse in 2019. It is the Ivoryton Playhouse where he has worked most often in the state, often with his wife, director Sherry Lutken. The couple were involved with Ivoryton productions of “Stand By Your Man,” “The Road: My Life With John Denver” and “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash.
Lutken likes to balance his acting career with pure musical gigs. Whenever and wherever he does a theater show, Lutken likes to hold a hootenanny concert where fellow cast members and local musicians can join in a loose public country/bluegrass jam session. When he was at Westport Playhouse, a performance had to be canceled last-minute and a hootenanny took its place.
With The Seat of the Pants Band, Lutken offers a grab bag of showtunes, traditional American and Irish melodies, folk songs from the 1950s and ’60s, stunes to ’50s and ’60s, New Orleans Jazz, bluegrass, roots rock and gospel.
Guest performers will include Christine Lyons, who worked with Lutken in Goodspeed’s “Big River,” and Morgan Morse, who appeared with Lutken in the transgender-themed musical “Southern Comfort.”
The “Goodspeed by the River” concerts are Thursday through Sundays at 5:30 p.m. (an earlier start time than The Playbillies had), weather permitting. Picnicking and the bringing of lawn chairs is encouraged. Tickets, at $25, go on sale Aug. 28 and are only available by calling the Goodspeed box office at 860-873-8668. The Goodspeed is also offering dinner and concert packages for $49 from the Gelston House restaurant next door to the Goodspeed.
The concerts follow COVID guidelines, with designated seating areas (for parties of up to six people) spaced 15 feet from each other. Facemasks are required except for the seating areas. Goodspeed posts the guidelines on its website, goodspeed.org.