Grapes of Wrath

The Story

Based on the novel by John Steinbeck
Music by Ricky Ian Gordon and libretto by Michael Korie

Setting

Oklahoma, Southwestern United States, and California in the mid-1930s.

Prologue

The “cropper” men and women recall the devastation of their native Oklahoma lands, brought about by drought and economic depression.

ACT I.

Tom Joad is paroled from McAlester Prison after serving four years for murder. After hitching a ride, he runs into Jim Casy, an ex-preacher, and together they happen upon the nearly deserted Joad farm. The Dust Bowl has ravaged the Depression-era country, and the family is gone. Tom learns his family is at Uncle John’s – but not for long, as he too has been evicted. They are all surprised to see Tom out of jail, and he agrees to relocate with them to California where it is rumored that there is work, even if it means he must break his parole. At the same time, Tom’s 16-year-old brother Al is buying the truck that will make the 2,000-mile trek. Ma laments the loss of the land and belongings that have meant so much to them.

The next day, the family loads its few remaining possessions into the truck and heads down the “Plenty Road” with Casy along for the ride. Though all remain optimistic, traveling along Route 66, Tom and the others experience their first disparaging remarks, now labeled as “Okies.” The Joads meet other travelers who have handbills promising work. To keep wages low, ranch owners print thousands of handbills when they only have a few hundred jobs available: one ragged man has already been to California and reports that there is no work left – and that his entire family perished from starvation. Elsewhere, dangling their feet off a highway overpass, Rosasharn, Tom’s sister, and her husband Connie watch the passing traffic and dream of a new home for their baby. The next day the Joads soberly bury Grampa, who has died during the night. The family then continues their journey down the road.

Intermission

ACT II.

At a diner, Pa enters with Ruthie and Winfield in tow, trying to buy a loaf of bread for Granma (who is now sick) as they prepare to cross the Mojave Desert, but they only have a dime. At the urging of her husband, the waitress gives them the loaf at a discount. Suddenly moved, she throws in two lollipops for the kids.

As they cross the dry Mojave, the men drive the truck while Connie makes amorous overtures to a reluctant Rosasharn and Ma rests with Granma. The old woman has died, but only Ma knows it. The next morning, after reaching the beautiful green valley, the awful truth is revealed. Ma had promised Granma she’d be buried in a green place.

At the Endicott Farm, growers inform the Joads that there’s no work there: the crop already has been picked. The locals rally – with the influx of Okie laborers, their wages have been slashed. Nearby, plums are being burned – the farm grew too many, and to drive up the price, they destroy the excess, rather than give them to the hungry ‘croppers. The Joads settle in a “Hooverville,” a squalid shantytown. The family is disgusted by their new surroundings but have little choice. Al reproaches his slow-witted brother Noah for being more of a burden than a help. Al wants to break off on his own, but Ma insists the family stay together. Later, Connie derides Rosasharn’s hopeless dreams of home and family and storms off, never to return.

The next day a contractor and a deputy show up with more handbills offering work. Al is suspicious and Casy asks to see the contractor’s license, causing a stir. When the squatters refuse to go, the situation becomes agitated. In the growing scuffle, Tom knocks the deputy unconscious, but he thinks he has killed him. As the deputy comes to, Casy take the blame for the assault as the Joads rush back on the truck. Noah goes to the creek to fetch a bucket of water and instead drowns himself.

Intermission

ACT 3.

Newly relocated at a government settlement camp, Ruthie and Winfield marvel at a flushing toilet, the first they have ever seen. The camp makes them feel like people again. Rosasharn is now very pregnant and despondent over Connie’s departure. Later, at the camp hoedown, the Joads joyfully take part in a square dance. Pa shows everyone a new handbill with great enthusiasm, but the crowd responds dishearteningly. Nonetheless, they prepare to pack – as good as the camp may be, there is still no way to make money for food.

At Hooper Ranch a strike is in progress, but the Joads and others are quickly ushered in, unaware they are scabs. As they pick peaches, Tom questions what is happening beyond the fence, but is quickly silenced. Though thrilled to finally have some money, the Joads are barely better off than they were before because of high commissary prices and ladder rentals. Later that night, Tom discovers a group of men outside the fence, one of whom is Casy, leading the strike over poor wages. Vigilantes soon arrive and bludgeon Casy to death. Tom bashes his assailant, killing him. Now a marked man, Tom goes into hiding and Ma smuggles him some food. He announces his plan to go off on his own, and they share a tender moment.

The remaining Joads find shelter in a boxcar and work picking cotton. Just as the rainy season begins, Rosasharn goes into labor, but delivers a stillborn child. The raging river has now flooded the Joads out of their home. Only Ma, Pa, Ruthie, Winfield and a very weak Rosasharn remain and seek refuge inside a barn. There they find a boy and a starving, nearly dead man. Ma intuitively knows what Rosasharn must do, and ushers everyone else back outside. Rosasharn nourishes the man with her breast.

– Freely adapted from Michael Korie’s synopsis for The Minnesota Opera
Reproduced with kind permission of Minnesota Opera