Musical shows workers’ attitudes
‘Working’ feels dated at times
In a musical based on writer Studs Terkel’s homage to the working class, “Working,” people from various professions — school teacher, phone operator, waitress, mill worker, mason, delivery man and homemaker — sing about their jobs. Some sing the praises of their vocations, and others lament that their lifelong dreams remain unfulfilled.
Terkel’s book was written in 1974, and though it’s been updated for a modern age, some workers’ comments about women feel uncomfortably
dated.
Each of the eight actors plays a different role, many of them blue-collar workers, though are some white collar ones, such as a money manager. Early on, Ron Williams of Lake Orion plays a structural steel worker who likes to read books and ponders, “To say that a man’s just a laborer … bothers you sometimes.”
An office worker sings about the drawbacks of her job, “Sometimes you get an OK boss, and sometimes you get a Satan boss.”
Another cubicle dweller seems annoyed that his neighbor spends her days emailing jokes
to her sister.
One of the most upbeat numbers is “Delivery,” performed by Gregory Rodriguez of New York City, who loves his job as a fast-food deliveryman. A clever stage prop has him seated on a bicycle anchored in a steel contraption so the actor can pedal as though he’s making deliveries.
Kim Rachelle Harris of Loganville, Ga., plays a sassy and spirited waitress in the rousing number, “It’s an Art.” “I get intoxicated by giving service. I feel like Mata Hari,” she belts out.
A fireman admits he switched professions from cop to fireman because “I liked people.” In his new job, “I can say I helped put out a fire. I helped save somebody.”
The positive numbers
are intertwined with more soulful ones. Several of them lament together, “I wanted to be a writer, a major league baseball player, own a small business.…” But life interfered — “then I got married … my dad got sick.”
The musical was nominated for six Tony Awards. It was written by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, with contributions by Gordon Greenberg. Songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz, and James Taylor.
It’s a slice of Americana, and even though some of the material resonates more from a different era, it’s worth a trip back in time.