‘A Hammer, a Bell, and a Song’ celebrates the music of a changing America

Jim Mooney (left) and Vaughn Armstrong
- Photo by Daren Scott

The singing coming from the general direction of Horton Plaza isn’t that of some leftover holiday carolers. It’s a theater audience, below the mall, at the Lyceum Stage, communally crooning the likes of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “Down by the Riverside” and “We Shall Overcome.”

They’re each songs of societal and political change included in the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s world-premiere workshop production of A Hammer, a Bell, and a Song. The show, written by director Todd Salovey with musicians Jim Mooney, Vaughn Armstrong and Dave Crossland, combines spoken word, visuals and music to tell the story of America’s ongoing activism, from the era of the Revolutionary War through the turmoil of the ’60s and ’70s to the present day. This is an audience-participation piece: No one is hauled up on stage unwillingly, but everyone is encouraged (by Mooney, Armstrong and Crossland, who are performing) to sing out and sing along.

“One of the effects of singing together is that it engenders a feeling of trust in people, and that trust puts the individual into a group, and they feel empowered to accomplish whatever it is they want to accomplish,” said Mooney, seen recently in the Rep’s The Great American Trailer Park Musical. “That experience, of joining together in a large group and singing, should make people feel good on a very basic level.”

This production originally had been intended as a play featuring the music of activist-musician Pete Seeger, but plans changed when Seeger (at age 92) read the final rehearsal draft and balked. “On short notice, we had to come up with something that carried on with the spirit of what Pete Seeger has done without specifically having it be about him,” Mooney explained.

Salovey is pleased with the results so far. "I have this belief that people will greatly enjoy that they're being asked to sing," he said. "It's the secret aspiration of the show to get people to remember that they used to like doing this.

"When it comes from the heart and the soul, it doesn't matter at all whether it's good or bad singing. I think it touches us and creates a sense of connection to ourselves, to the people around us and to the song itself."

A Hammer, a Bell, and a Song runs through Jan. 29 at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, Downtown. $32-$51.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.