Chicago Tribune
Richard Christiansen, Entertainment editor
September 19, 1988
"The adaptation also has kept traces of Steinbeck's pseudo-biblical narrative throught the voices of a 'Brother' and 'Sister' who set the scene, and through a lively four-man band that, using Michael Smith's original score and Steinbeck's words as lyrics, creates much of whatever vitality the production enjoys. The brief musical segment adapted from the novel's chapter on conniving used-car salesmen is one of the show's few unalloyed joys."
Los Angeles Times
Sylvie Drake, Times Theater Writer
May 1989
"Emotionally stark, visually bleak and aurally sustaining (composer and musical director Michael Smith has created a mood-setting musical frame performed on harmonica, a musical saw, banjo, fiddle and guitar), this lament for the destitute farmers who left Oklahoma's Dust Bowl in the '30s in search of work and survival in California has profound resonances in the present. The Okies were the first homeless."
Drama-logue (S. California)
D. Larry Stecking
June 1989
"In addition to superb acting, the show is technically perfect, with rustic settings and outstanding lighting that creates that fresh-from-memory feeling both by Kevin Rigdon. Rigdon, with the assistance of Erin Quigley, has also fashioned a convincing hand-me-down clothing look for the actors' wardrobes. The original music composed and directed by Michael Smith adds immeasurably to the effectiveness of this piece, with a folksy, grass-roots feeling to music and lyrics."
Time Out London
John Morrish
June 1989
"Michael Smith's small bluegrass band provides an object lesson in the use of music as accompaniment and commentary."
