Johnny Appleweed

"Johnny Appleweed" is a musical political satire of American politics, religion, sexuality, and drugs at the turn of a new millennium. With songs like "Cannabis Dei," "I Tapped That Ass," "What Would Jesus Do?", "A Prayer for Wal-Mart," and "F**king Up America," the show succeeded with audiences and critics. "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch" called the original production at New Line Theatre in St. Louis "a smart, engaging musical satire . . . "Johnny Appleweed" has the energy and wit of the early "Saturday Night Live". Indeed, there’s a gloriously irreverent sketch-comedy sensibility at work. . . "Johnny Appleweed" is likely to win you over. It's a giddy delight."cite web|last=Wilson|first=Calvin|title="Johnny Appleweed is a smart, engaging musical satire"|publisher="The St. Louis Post-Dispatch"|date=2006-10-15|url=http://www.stltoday.com|accessdate=2008-07-13] Richard Green of TalkinBroadway.com wrote, "Johnny Appleweed is full of excellent melody and excellent humor carried through by highly proficient performers, in this latest entry in the St. Louis Political Theatre Festival. . . The physical direction sparkles, and the band led by Chris Petersen is agile and compelling. The songs are beautiful, and the jokes are nearly all sure-fire. . . Most importantly, when "Johnny Appleweed" sticks to musical comedy, it's quite stupendous."cite web|last=Green|first=Richard|title="Review: Johnny Appleweed"|publisher=TalkinBroadway.com|date=2006-10-15|url=http://talkingbroadway.org/regional/stl/stl38.html|accessdate=2008-07-13]

With book, music and lyrics by Scott Miller, it's the first musical ever to make a serious case for the spiritual, existential, and psychological properties of marijuana. Through the lens of this pot-friendly worldview, the show takes aim at issues like American party politics, the War on Terror, the (undeclared) war on America's poor, our American culture of violence, gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana, sexual oppression, and increasingly rabid (and insincere) American religious fanaticism, all through the eyes of the laidback, neo-mythic purveyor of pot, Johnny Appleweed, an itinerant philosopher-stoner, who argues that only through the mind-expanding properties of marijuana can we truly see the Larger Truths, so that we can finally solve our problems and move our civilization forward. It's been described as a heady mix of "Hair, The Daily Show," the films of Kevin Smith, "Waiting for Godot", and "The Wizard of Oz".

In the show, Johnny -- a kind of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the modern stoner -- is on his way to Washington D.C. to tell the President he's screwing up our country and has to stop! Over the course of the first act, Johnny meets up with a Christian-Republican closet-case, a lesbian performance artist, Jesus Christ himself, and a perky former televangelist. In Act II, this gang of five finally meets the President and they set about trying to convince him to change his political ways. The closet case Mark emerges as the story's hero and follows the ancient Hero Myth story, as his conservative beliefs are challenged and dismantled one by one, and he finally faces his Evil Wizard figure -- the President of the United States.

The cast of the 2006 world premiere production by New Line Theatre in St. Louis featured Aaron Allen (as Mark Dodger), Brian Claussen (President John J. Birch), Ember Hyde (Suzanne Moon), Alice Kinsella (Carla Roe), Matthew Korinko (Jesus Christ), Kimi Short (Fannie Mae Butcher), and John Sparger (Johnny Appleweed). The show was directed by author Scott Miller, with set design by GP Hunsaker, lighting by Kenneth Zinkl, costumes by Russell Bettlach, and music direction by Chris Petersen.cite web|last=Crouse|first=Nancy|title="Review: Johnny Appleweed"|publisher="KDHX-FM"|date=2006-10-15|url=http://kdhx.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=585&Itemid=142|accessdate=2008-06-03]

Background

"Johnny Appleweed" has one central agenda as a political document, insisting that American democracy only works if its citizens are thoroughly and thoughtfully engaged in the business of the nation. American government is indeed of the people, by the people, and for the people, and the show argues that too many of us forget those first two parts, that we all have work to do in keeping our democracy healthy and alive. Like many artists, poets, and philosophers who've gone before him, Johnny believes that marijuana is both a facilitator and catalyst for political and social understanding and change. Though marijuana is not the only concern of "Johnny Appleweed", the show does suggest that the plant can, in many cases, open users' minds to new ways of thinking and perceiving, new revelations, new and deeper understanding of ourselves and our world, which can in turn help us solve the other problems facing us. It’s no accident that some of the greatest art of the 20th century was created under the influence of marijuana, opening up new, important, insightful visions of our world and existence.

The roots of "Johnny Appleweed" go way back. The stage has forever been a place where political issues have been examined. The ritualistic and social significance of the earliest Greek performances in central arenas brought relevance to many controversial topics, a pattern that has not subsided to this day. Like the musicals "Hair, Viet Rock, Sarafina!, Cabaret, The Threepenny Opera, The Cradle Will Rock, Pins and Needles, Kiss of the Spider Woman", and many others, "Johnny Appleweed" is a piece of agitprop theatre (short for "agitational propaganda"). Back in the 1930s, during the height of the Depression, mainstream theatre got intensely political, with shows like "Waiting for Lefty, The Cradle Will Rock, Power, One Third of a Nation, It Can’t Happen Here, Pins and Needles", and many others. Once America entered World War II, patriotism overpowered political dissent, and agitprop faded away. But when the 60s arrived with its renewed political and social unrest, theatre returned to fiercely political drama and satire, with shows like "Hair, Viet Rock, Cabaret, McBird, US, Futz", and many others. But the economic prosperity of the 1980s and 90s lessened the public appetite for political theatre once again. Then came the September 11 terrorist attacks and the Bush administration and explicitly political theatre returned to U.S. stages.

Musical numbers

; Act I
* The Ballad of Johnny Appleweed - Company
* The Scheme of Things - The Three Stoners
* Fucking Up America - Johnny
* Cannabis Dei - Johnny, A Monk, Mark
* Weird Isn’t Weird - Suzanne, Johnny
* Going to See the President - Mark, Suzanne, Johnny
* Jesus On the Tube - Mark, Johnny, Suzanne
* A Prayer for Harvard - Mom and Dad Dodger
* Barney - Johnny, Mark
* Fannie Mae’s Lament - Fannie Mae, Company
* Use Your Brain - Jesus, Company
* Comes a Time / Act I Finale - Mark, Company

;Act II
* Holy Fucking Shit! - Johnny
* Here’s President Birch - Carla
* It’s a Leader’s Job - Mrs. Birch
* A Prayer for Wal-Mart - Birch, Carla
* It’s Up to Us - Mark
* I’m a Real Man - Birch
* I Tapped That Ass - Birch, Company
* You May Be a Good Man - Jesus
* What Would Jesus Do? - Jesus
* A Great Big Cloud of Smoke - Johnny, Mark, Company

References

*Material used with permission from the [http://www.NewLineTheatre.com New Line Theatre website]

External links

* [http://www.21stcenturymusicals.co.uk/musicals/johnnyappleweed.html 21st Century Musicals ]
* [http://www.newlinetheatre.com/johnnypage.html New Line Theatre's Johnny Appleweed webpage ]