Working at the Broadway Playhouse: Highly Recommended

While I had a good idea about the broad lines of this play before attending, I was unprepared for its emotional depth. To call it a celebration of the "working man" (sic) is correct - but wholly inadequate. Through the words collected by Studs Terkel, then adapted and updated by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, we are taken into the lives, aspirations and disappointments - but never defeats - of the working class.

Mr. Terkel's positive bias for the blue collar - and against executives - is transparent and unapologetically presented. Even the staging takes up the theme, making the stage crew and musicians active parts of the production. The set itself is ingeniously tied to the lighting, rendering the industrialized rendition of Hollywood Squares into a fluid, vibrant landscape. The actors and stories rip apart the cubical walls and allow us, in their finer moments, to be touched by the real people struggling within.

And, speaking of the actors, the six individuals who portray the 26 stories are a superbly talented ensemble, particularly Ms. Emjoy Gavino, whose voice, acting and dance all come together powerfully in "Millwork" (music by James Taylor).

Many of the stories were noteworthy, and in fact the only ones that struck slightly sour notes were those where Mr. Terkel painted the executives with too broad of a caricaturist's brush. The addition of the story of a project manager and a callroom staff in India helped modernize the flavor, but that was a welcome addition rather than a necessary update. Finally, many of the stories transitioned nicely, particularly the housewife (sic) / prostitute (kudos to E. Faye Butler) and the retiree / caregivers.

However, the real treat was the fact that the language of the stories was both authentic and often deeply personal. More than once I found myself touched more deeply than I ever expected, and it was this fact that took the production from simply being a well-crafted, well-performed musical to an experience worthy of high recommendations.