The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that tickets are on sale for a March 9, 2019 concert presentation of the musical “Lonesome Traveler,” featuring special guest star Peter Yarrow.
Hosted inside the Pollak Theatre as part of the 2018-2019 Performing Arts Series, the one-night engagement represents a local debut for the nationwide touring attraction that spotlights the cast members and unforgettable songs of the multi-media show that enjoyed an acclaimed Off Broadway run at New York’s 59E59 Theaters in 2015. Scheduled for 8 pm, it’s an epic road trip through the roots of Americana music, from Woody Guthrie to Pete Seeger — and to Bob Dylan and beyond.
Drawing from the rich legacy of American folk music — from its very real standing as a medium of communication and a call for activism, to its enduring impact on the popular culture of the rock and roll generation — “Lonesome Traveler” traces a road that connects the enduring spirit of a nation’s people to the fighters, the dreamers, and the chroniclers of some of the most challenging chapters in our American story. It’s a tale told with a poet’s passion and a journalist’s sense of justice; put forth in words and music with harmony, humor, and a sense of community that guarantees even the most solitary of travelers never truly walks alone.
For the concert style program conceived and directed by NY Drama Desk Award-winning producer James O’Neil, a dynamic assembly of young actor-singers and musicians is joined by a genuine living legend; a vocalist, songwriter and author whose contribution to American music spans the decades, generations, and genres.
As a founding member of the beloved trio known as Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Yarrow was one of the hitmakers to whom the concepts of brotherhood, equality and respect for the Earth were more than just catchwords. From the “underground” coffeehouses to the pinnacle of the Billboard charts, they were the family-friendly, suitable-for-Sullivan face of the 1960s’ social conscience — the ambassadors who gave America’s youth its first exposure to the work of icons like Pete Seeger, and a first listen to young songwriters named Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver, and Bob Dylan.
At the age of 80 — having neither slowed his pace of activity, nor surrendered one ounce of the passion that has kept him in the forefront of progressive causes — the man who walked with Dr. King in Selma, and who organized a massive anti-war march on Washington in 1969, returns once more to the Monmouth campus to join the “Lonesome Traveler” cast in a guided tour of musical milestones and touchstones. It’s a journey that ranges from such traditional heirlooms as “John Henry” and “We Shall Overcome,” to the signature songs of Guthrie (“This Land Is Your Land”), Leadbelly (“Goodnight Irene”), The Weavers (“If I Had a Hammer”), Seeger (“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”), and Dylan (“It’s All Over Now Baby Blue”) — as well as Yarrow’s own all-ages classic, “Puff the Magic Dragon.”
Tickets for the March 9 presentation of “Lonesome Traveler: The Concert” are priced at $39 and $49, with a Gold Circle seating option of $60, and can be reserved through the Monmouth University Performing Arts Box Office at 732-263-6889, or online at www.monmouth.edu/MCA.
