Revised "Working" to premiere at Asolo in FL

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 9:17pm

This sounds exciting!

"Lin-Manuel Miranda, the writing-acting sensation of Broadway's In the Heights, is working with Stephen Schwartz and director Gordon Greenberg on a re-imagined production of the musical Working.

Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, FL, will produce the new version of the 1978 Broadway revue inspired by Studs Terkel's famous oral-history book about working folk. Performances will play May 14-June 8."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116275.html

[withoutlovewithoutU]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 9:28pm

yeah this sound interesting! Could be really cool.

[BroadwayEnthusiast2]

Posted: 3/27/08 at 9:33pm

I just saw the article on Playbill. I'm so excited for Miranda.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 8:07am

Thrilling!

I *love* WORKING. And I love Lin-Manuel Miranda.

A Broadway revival, even a limited run by a non-profit, would be so welcome here.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 10:58am

As long as they don't cut "Just a Housewife" or "If I Could've Been."

Who else is in love with Lynne Thigpen on the OBCR?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 11:07am

I've never heard this
Ever

Posted: 3/28/08 at 11:10am

Millwork ain't easy.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 1:03pm

I really like Working. Even as a kid, when you'd think it would have bored me to tears, I used to watch that PBS video of it. The hooker fascinated me to no end.

James Taylor did ok with Un Mejor Dia Vendra and Brother Trucker, but man he nailed it with Millwork. Staged well, that can one amazing scene. I think Schwartz's work on It's an Art is the best he's ever done. The one song I've never seen work quite right is Nobody Tells Me How.

I saw a production of the last set of revisions a few years ago, and it still works. At least as well as it always did, anyway. Somehow it never quite comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts, but it always touches me.

The best production I've seen did something very cool with Fathers and Sons. The one guy still sang it, but he was joined and backed in the choruses by the old man playing Joe and the young newsboy (this production was of the old script that had him in it), creating three generations onstage. So when he sang of his father and his son, there they were, and in that moment he was a father to the boy and a son to his dad. The light moved in the final moments from the old man, the adult man, and finally ended on the boy during "I give it to my kid." Very moving.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 10:58pm

I'm bumping this sucka. Never done that before, but I want to hear your thoughts on this seldom produced gem.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 11:14pm

--"As long as they don't cut "Just a Housewife" or "If I Could've Been."

Who else is in love with Lynne Thigpen on the OBCR?"
--

I'm with you, husk_charmer! Those two songs are musts! "Just a Housewife STILL makes me sob every time I hear it (and I DID the show). Lynne Thigpen is incredible on both "If I Could've Been" and "Cleaning Women." What a talent. We lost her to soon.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 11:21pm

Glad you bumped, Ourtime992! I was a big fan of "Working" as soon as I heard the recording years ago. And I fell further in love with the piece after performing in a production of it. I think it's a thoughtful, hearwarming piece that feels more human than many musicals. And the score is truly under-rated. There are SEVERAL musical gems.

Your comments about the "Fathers and Sons" staging struck me because that's actually how it was staged in the production in which I performed. I was Joe and the director had me enter next to the "O" upstage (our set included the large functional block letters spelling "Working" onstage) as Mike began singing the verse about his father. The newsboy then appeared and the song ended with the same generational moment that you described. I remember hearing sniffling and stiffled cries in the audience. It was extremely touching.

[defyingravity11]

Posted: 3/28/08 at 11:51pm

I saw the Actor's Fund concert version last year and I really liked what they did with involving the crew, although I wish they did it throughout the whole show. I did the show in high school (I was Mike) and I just love it!

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 5:10am

I read the book in high school.

Another of Studs Terkel's best is Race, absolutely worth the read as well.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 10:03am

I did the show back in college and played Frank Decker, the truck driver. I sang "Brother Trucker" and "Fathers and Sons." And Jay Karnes from "The Shield" was our fireman. Our housewife ended up in Les Mis, etc. It was a good cast. Our director played around with the staging and integrated the characters into each other's scenes. It had a great flow to it, and made it very compelling, rather than a series of disjointed, isolated "confessions."

It can be a much better show than people realize. The material is very solid, and it's the kind of show that can appeal to a very wide audience.

I wish them the best of luck with this. "Working" should be considered a much better musical than it is.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 10:46am

I remember seeing a youn Patti Lupone in the original @ the then 46 th Street theater

I liked the show than & the CD although some numbers like Newsboy & Joe I could live without.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 12:23pm

--
"It can be a much better show than people realize. The material is very solid, and it's the kind of show that can appeal to a very wide audience.

I wish them the best of luck with this. "Working" should be considered a much better musical than it is.
--

I completely agree, best12bars.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 1:39pm

The last "revised" version (before this one) eliminated the Newsboy song and added two new songs - a song for the supermarket checker and an ensemble number, "Traffic Jam" (which is actually an old James Taylor song).

Let's face it, there really aren't any news boys anymore. My paper is delivered by an old lady with a car.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 1:43pm

I love this show! This sounds like a great idea. I keep on trying to get theaters to produce it, but no one bites.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 3:26pm

The problem with "Working" is that there's no plot or major story, and some people don't like that.

On paper, it's not unlike "A Chorus Line" or "Cats." You have a big opening number with everybody in it. Then, one by one, the characters step forward and tell you about themselves with a monologue or song.

But "Cats" and "A Chorus Line" both have the "prize" at the end. In Cats, a single kitty is chosen to be reborn. In ACL, eight dancers are cast to be in the Broadway show.

"Working" doesn't have a prize at the end. It has a strong message though. That everyone counts. And everyone's work affects and effects everyone else. It's one big, giant karma cabaret. And hopefully our "work" should and could make the world a better place.

It's a show that definitely makes you think. It has a bit of a Frank Capra quality of "celebrating the little guy." In the end if you step back, we're all "little guys."

[NY_Broadway2]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 5:13pm

I've never seen this show before nor have I ever heard the cast recording of it. But there is a local theatre around where I live that is producing it and I'm going to go see it. This thread has made me really excited to see it. Plus I know two people in the cast....a friend of mine is playing the female business executive and my vocal teacher is playing the waitress.

[nmartin]

Posted: 3/29/08 at 5:18pm

When the album first came out, I listened to It's an Art constantly.