It’s Chicago’s Musical, the 'Actors’ Musical.' WORKING Really Works!

The revised version of the 1970s musical "Working," that montage of monologues with the Frankenstein score that is usually called "the blue collar 'A Chorus Line'" (though it isn't), opened on Wednesday night in the town that originally birthed it, full of life and emotion and enough Chicago grit, grime and elbow grease to give it another 35 years in the repertoire, and then some. A short-lived 1978 Broadway musical for a cast of 18 (after its premiere at the Goodman Theatre here the year before), it is now a tour de force property for six versatile singing actors, with brand-new orchestrations (by Alex Lacamoire of "In The Heights") and a focus squarely aimed at the empathetic center of the audience's solar plexus. 

I can't imagine a better template than this production for future regional, college and community mountings of this sui generis piece of musical theater. An off-Broadway production would be ideal, but as icing on the cake. Really a topical revue, but with character-based acting and modern songwriting to tug equally at the audience's thoughts and hearts, we in the City That Works now have a rare gem on our hands. Do you want to know what all your toil is worth, and what it all amounts to? Do you want to see yourself, feel yourself, as a part of a vibrant and flawed modern city? To find the real meaning of "Working," one need look no further than the Broadway Playhouse, steps from the Magnificent Mile in the heart of retail and tourist Chicago. 

This top-notch commercial production (courtesy of Jed Bernstein, DiAnne Fraser and Sheila Simon Geltzer) in the newest theater owned by Broadway in Chicago (part of the Nederlander umbrella) is scheduled to run through May 8, 2011, but one can easily imagine a longer tenure. Six of our brightest local talents, a bevy of loyal and hardworking stagehands and dressers (frequently visible in the production's meta-conceit, but not really necessary) and an orchestra of five had the opening night audience breathlessly eating out of their hands this week. 

The original theatrical adaptation was by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso (both veterans of "Godspell"), but I believe director Gordon Greenberg had a strong hand in shaping what is now before us. In ones, twos, threes and so on, real-life Chicagoans from the pages of Chicago icon Studs Terkel's 1974 book "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel" come to life on stage, frequently juxtaposed in the show's best way to get more textured and less repetitive (a prostitute and a fundraiser, for instance, or a senior caregiver and a child caregiver are seen simultaneously). The late Terkel's familiar, gravelly radio voice is heard briefly at the beginning, and the audience is told that additional interviews were conducted (by someone) in the last few years, no doubt the ones about cellphones, computers and reflective of the increasingly non-white presence in Chicago's workforce. 

Known as a show that is a great source of audition material (both spoken and sung), it's monologue after solo after monologue for most of the show's 100 minutes, as the drudgeries, fears, triumphs and fun of the work world (in an all-too-fragile employment environment) unfold in a moving and delightful fashion (Who's coming up next?). The actors become new characters before our eyes, literally in the many onstage costume changes and even more literally in the talent of the performers, and ironworker Mike Dillard, hedge fund manager Rex Winship, project manager Amanda McKenny, stone mason Anthony Coelho, cleaning lady Maggie Holmes, and on and on, have a minute to shine, to explain themselves, and then fade away, immortal and yet gone from our sight. It's quite a parade of humanity. 

It's my understanding that four songs have been dropped and two new ones (by Lin-Manuel Miranda) added, through a process that began at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Florida and continued at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. We are told that this production is now the model for licensing materials and the like, and I wonder if a cast album will be made. That would be awesome, because the show sounds just great. Of the songwriters represented (five, plus one composer-lyricist team), musical theater writer Craig Carnelia has four songs in the show (the memorable "Just A Housewife," the great "The Mason," the moving "Joe" and the finale ["Something To Point To"] ), and the very well-known Stephen Schwartz has three well-known songs (the opening ensemble number, ["All The Livelong Day"], "It's An Art" and "Fathers And Sons"). Grammy winner James Taylor has two ("Brother Trucker" and "Millwork"), as does the legendary theater writer Micki Grant ("If I Could Have Been" and "Cleanin' Women") and newcomer and Tony-winner Miranda (the hilarious "Delivery" and the sweetly touching "A Very Good Day"), whose songs are every bit as good, or better, than some of the original songs. (He also brings the valuable viewpoint of another person of color to the proceedings.) Composer Mary Rodgers and lyricist Susan Birkenhead are represented by the song "Nobody Tells Me How," the textured story of schoolteacher Rose Hoffman. 

Three of the actors in this production are bona fide Chicago stage stars, and it is wonderful to have them show us exactly how its done. E. Faye Butler, fresh from "Oklahoma!" at Washington's Arena Stage, is a six-time Jeff Award winner, and a formidable physical presence. When fully unleashed, her voice is a force of nature. The remarkable chameleon Barbara Robertson and the almost as hard-to-find Gene Weygandt spent much of the last few years in Schwartz's "Wicked," and truly talented veterans such as this are a joy to see, up close and thoroughly engaged in their characters, moving and hilarious. Composer and actor Michael Mahler is a newly minted star in our midst, and is on the verge of even greater horizons, trust me. It was an added delight when he brought his guitar downstage right to accompany himself on "The Mason," though I think he would have been just as good without it. 

Two members of the cast were unknown to me, but the minute they opened their mouths to speak and sing I realized they will be stars soon, or that they just became stars with this production! Gabriel Ruiz showed a great versatility in his acting (funny, sad, different accents, various ages, etc.) and he has a tremendously well-placed tenor voice. The personable Emjoy Gavino, like Mahler, remained pretty much herself throughout all her characterizations, but then again, so did Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. And her singing was better than theirs. I was very impressed. 

Unless I am mistaken (and just for the record), understudies Genevieve Venjohnson and Demetrios Troy are doing some offstage singing for musical director Mark Hartman during the show (they are listed as understudies, but a program insert calls them "chorus"). Josh Rhodes contributed some easy but effective choreography to the proceedings (the show is not at all flashy, but occasionally it moves), and the lighting design of Jeffrey Croiter and Jesse Klug is tremendously effective in guiding the eye and enhancing the mood. Mattie Ullrich did yeoman's work in devising the many costumes that depict each real-life character portrayed, not to mention the complicated but quick ways the actors get in and our of them. Sound design by Josh Horvath and Ray Nardelli was flawless, Aaron Rhyne provided projection design that enhanced and heightened key emotional moments in the non-linear drama before us, and Beowulf Boritt's scenic design (a double-decker steel construct, serving as both skyscraper and onstage cubby-holes for dressing) is evocative and utilititarian--much like the city it reflects, I might add. 

And now, for the bad news. "Working" isn't for everyone, I think. It isn't flashy, or loud, or a great deal of "fun." It's occasionally vulgar, in the way that real people are. It's mostly intimate, and always demands that the audience take a step forward and invest in the proceedings. And, though a lot of theater goes on, there is no "dramatic action," no plot. (The same can be said for "Cats," too, but at least Grizabella ascends to the "heaviside layer" in the second act of that character-by-character musical.) 

"Working" is what it is. It is a show that reveals honesty and the life that really goes on--just outside the theater's doors--in a way that no other musical does. Its folk-pop score is unlike any other, but full of delights. Its vignettes are remarkable. And it is here, newly spiffed up and presented with more care than nearly any show in recent memory. It's a labor of love, and it demands one from you. Work at "Working," and you will be rewarded. You might kiss your parent, or your child, and not tell them why. It's a slice of life in the guise of a slice of Chicago-style pizza. It's rewarding, and it's ours. 

"Working" is now playing at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut, in Chicago. Individual tickets are $67.50-$77.50. For more information, please visit www.workingthemusical.com or www.BroadwayInChicago.com.   

Photo credit: Amy Boyle  

Photos: E. Faye Butler; Barbara Roberston; Gene Weygandt; Michael Mahler; Emjoy Gavino; Gabriel Ruiz; cast.

 

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