from the book by Studs Terkel

adapted by Stephen Schwartz, Nina Faso, and Gordon Greenberg

songs by
CRAIG CARNELIA
MICKI GRANT
MARY RODGERS and SUSAN BIRKENHEAD
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
JAMES TAYLOR

Dance Music by MICHELE BROURMAN

Original production directed by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

April 14 – May 13, 2012

Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm Sundays at 3:00 pm

*Special performance Monday, April 16, at 8:00 pm

April 14 – May 13, 2012

Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm Sundays at 3:00 pm
*Special performance Monday, April 16, at 8:00 pm
Run time: 2:00

Photos from the Show

from the book by Studs Terkel

adapted by Stephen Schwartz, Nina Faso, and Gordon Greenberg

songs by
CRAIG CARNELIA
MICKI GRANT
MARY RODGERS and SUSAN BIRKENHEAD
LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
JAMES TAYLOR

Dance Music by MICHELE BROURMAN

Original production directed by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

Could there be a better moment to do “Working,” an audience-friendly revue of songs and monologues based on Studs Terkel’s 1974 book of interviews with American working folk?”
-The Washington Post

The Keegan Theatre is in its 15th season and is the resident company at Church Street Theater in Dupont Circle.

About Dupont Festival

The purpose of Dupont Festival is to organize and implement a wide range of outdoor and indoor activities in the greater Dupont Circle area throughout the year. For more information on how you can become involved in any of our upcoming events, please contact DupontFestival@gmail.com

Keegan Theatre’s engaging production at Church Street Theater is workmanlike — that’s a compliment, not a condescension. Some in the cast of 14 shine with vocal and dramatic polish, and others are less assured. Under other circumstances, such performance unevenness would be an issue, but this show feels more real because of it.

Terkel’s book was originally adapted for the stage by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”) and ran on Broadway in 1978. Schwartz wrote some of the songs, but he also commissioned tunes from Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, Susan Birkenhead and others. Staged by Shirley Serotsky, Keegan is doing a shortened and revised version of the show developed regionally in 2008 and 2009, with two new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda of “In the Heights” fame.

Apart from a brief nod to a “tech support” person, “Working” salutes more 20th-century workers — stonemason, trucker, teacher, nanny, house cleaner, stay-at-home mom, delivery boy and more. The stage is painted to resemble a thoroughfare with traffic lanes. Scaffolding at the sides hints at construction sites and factory floors.

In a salute to the original version of the show and to Terkel, the proceedings open with an ancient reel-to-reel tape recorder in the middle of the stage; the recorder’s so big that it has to be wheeled in and out. The audience hears Terkel (who died in 2008 at age 96), a lifelong chronicler of ordinary people’s lives, interviewing his “Working” subjects in the early 1970s. The 14-member ensemble then launches into “All the Livelong Day (I Hear America Singing),” Schwartz’s song inspired by the Walt Whitman poem.

John Loughney shows power in “The Mason,” by Carnelia, as a stonemason who knows his work will outlast him.”

We then meet some of Terkel’s people — a steelworker (Mike Kozemchak) who takes pride in his ability to stay cool at great heights to build skyscrapers; an office “project manager” (Priscilla Cuellar) who works in cubicles and has grown accustomed to layoffs. In more than one number, Cuellar shows she can belt a song to the rafters and keep the emotions true.

Those monologues lead to an early highlight — “Delivery” (one of Miranda’s new songs), in which a young man named Freddy Rodriguez sings with naive enthusiasm about being a fast-food delivery guy. Manuel Ayala Sapelli, a high school student, brings tremendous charm and energy to the number.

The Taylor song “Brother Trucker” (a solo by Dan Sonntag) salutes the lives of interstate truck drivers, and it’s a rouser. Director Serotsky and choreographer Kurt Boehm put three burly guys in trucker hats and shades into an amusing fantasy number with sexy women.

Sherry Berg has fun with Schwartz’s “It’s an Art” as a waitress who turns waiting tables into an acting tour de force to keep herself interested. Mick Tinder, although a little hesitant, is touching as a lonely retiree in Carnelia’s “Joe.”

Near the end, Schwartz’s eye-moistening ballad, “Fathers and Sons,” sung by Kozemchak’s steelworker is tinged with parental and filial regret.

Serotsky keeps things moving and emotionally credible throughout. The small orchestra, led by Jake Null on keyboard, provides dependable backup for the performers, not drowning out the lyrics so essential to a show based on the words of real people.

-Read the Full Review at The Washington Post

The book was turned into a musical in 1978 and had a short run on Broadway, but “Working — A Musical” is not often produced. Fortunately, Keegan Theatre is bringing it back in a rousing, updated version, one that highlights what a friend of working people Terkel was.

Stephen Schwartz, Nina Faso and Gordon Greenberg did the adaptation and seven musicians created the songs: Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, James Taylor, Susan Birkenhead, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The original music has folk/pop roots, and two excellent new songs by Miranda add new dimensions.

Rather than having a plot, “Working” travels from character to character, focusing on the trials, tribulations, joys and fears of each. Some people are proud of their work, like the mason who cherishes every home he has built. On the other hand, a secretary is bored with her job, and a prostitute is blase about hers. In one of the most touching numbers, a mother (Tina Ghandchilar) sings that she is “Just a Housewife,” implying that no one values her, even though she knows that her work is important.

The Keegan ensemble is strong under Shirley Serotsky’s careful direction.”

Sherry Berg excels as a high-energy waitress in “It’s An Art.” Jennifer Richter sensitively outlines life on an assembly line in “Millwork.” Tia-Cherie Dolet makes it clear she needs a better life for her daughter in “Cleanin’ Women.” RaMond Thomas and Priscilla Cuellar incisively witness social imbalance, singing of the jobs they do because no one else will do them.

Kurt Boehm’s choreography is smooth and effectively uses all available parts of Leon Weibers’ set, made of steel scaffolds. The four-piece orchestra, ably directed by Jake Null, sits atop that scaffolding.

By the end of the one-act show, people have let you into their homes, their hearts, their universes, expressing their feelings not only about work but also about how work colors their perceptions of life.

“Working” doesn’t seem at all dated, which may be a tribute to its good music and lyrics. Or it may be that the meat of the matter will never change: It’s impossible to talk about work without talking about workers and their aspirations, desires, sense of dignity and self-worth. Or maybe “Working” comes across with real immediacy because it owes its life to Studs Terkel’s presence of mind, to just turn a tape recorder on and find out some never-changing truths.

Working  is primarily adapted from Studs Terkel’s highly acclaimed nonfiction sociological work Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do. Since the original 1978 Broadway premiere, the musical has undergone many changes, including a 2009 update by Stephen Schwartz, featuring new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda, and a 2011 revision by Gordon Greenberg. The current version sheds some outmoded 1970s roles for modern additions including ambitious delivery boy Freddy Rodriguez, played by precocious talent Manuel Ayala Sapelli, and a caricature of a Wall Street 1%’er, played to the hilt by RaMond Thomas.

The production unfolds like a theatrical stream of consciousness, following a random assortment of characters through their daily routines without much to link them together beyond a loose through line of shared struggle. As one might expect with a production about working 9 to 5, many of the characters express familiar frustrations relating to workplace dynamics, deferred dreams, family drama, and classism. It’s not all negative, however, as just as many songs explore uplifting themes like the simple joy of a big tip and the satisfaction of a hard day’s labor.

The score represents a collective effort by the aforementioned Schwartz and Miranda, as well as  Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and Susan Birkenhead. Even the great James Taylor contributed several numbers. The committee of songwriters incorporated spoken word, densely packed verses, alternating time signatures, and novel rhyming schemes into a very mixed musical bag.

In “Just a Housewife”, Tina Ghandchilar utilizes her powerful voice to lead an impassioned defense of stay at home motherhood, along with the help of an assortment of like minded moms. Her animated eyes evince a deep pride in her lifestyle choice, mixed with a slight desire for acceptance.”

Jennifer Richter provides the highlight of the first half with “Millwork”, a haunting account of the extreme dangers and tedium of the assembly line. Richter plays Grace, a single mother supporting her three children with a punishing factory job. Richter describes in detail the demanding, life threatening actions she must perform every 40 seconds inside her metal tank, in order to put food on the table. She punctuates her devastating story with the line: “I have been a fool to let the manufacturer use my body as a tool.”

Later, Mick Tinder provides a serene, resigned counterpoint to his struggling contemporaries as retiree Joe Zutty. In “Joe”, Tinder puts on a masterful display of understated emotion with his portrait of a witty elder who has already made peace with the struggles that plague the other characters.

Director Shirley Serotsky’s intelligent double casting results in an equal-opportunity vision of the American tapestry, as each actor explores disparate sectors of the economic and cultural spectrum. A struggling teacher becomes a high powered socialite. A ruthless financier becomes a sensitive, underpaid caretaker. A scrappy delivery boy becomes a coddled trust fund baby. The many combinations prevent the audience from ascribing familiar stereotypes to each actor, emphasizing individual stories over cultural expectations.

Choreographer Kurt Boehm…provides some fun moments with the roadhouse sleaze of “Brother Trucker” and the jubilant, Hairspray-esque “Cleanin’ Women.” He saves most of his razzle dazzle for “It’s an Art”, wherein waitress Delores Dante, played by the brassy Sherry Berg, hams it up all over the stage like a drink-slinging Velma Kelly.

In these trying times, pop culture has reached a high water mark for fantasy and nostalgia, a collective longing for a time more stylish, more exciting, and more hopeful. Amidst a wave of escapism, Working’s most audacious twist is the absence of “happily ever after”. No character rises above their economic situation or exorcises their demons, at least not onstage. Working offers the audience no escape from reality, but rather the bracing yet self-affirming chance to look into a mirror and celebrate what we see inside.

-Read the Full Review at DC Theatre Scene

Working is based on the book of the same name by Studs Terkel. Terkel went around the country and conducted interviews with people in all kinds of occupations. Stephen Schwartz, Nina Faso and Gordon Greenberg took Terkel’s material and fashioned the interviews into a musical review of the human spirit. Every level of employment is represented in the show. From the delivery boy all the way up to big business, every class of people gets a fair shake in this show.

The show has always had a great score and this production allows the songs to really shine. It took seven writers to provide the score and in no particular order: Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Lin Manuel Miranda, Stephen Schwartz, Mary Rodgers, Susan Birkenhead and James Taylor (yes that James Taylor) have captured the voices of the characters in song to a tee.

A few highlights include, Carnelia’s “Just A Housewife” which is brilliantly sung by Tina Ghandchilar. This song has been recorded by the likes of Karen Mason and Maureen Silliman (Carnelia’s ex), but I can honestly say there is no better interpreter of this song than Ghandchilar. This young lady commands the stage and does exactly what the material calls for.

Director Shirley Serotsky has done a fine job of weaving the monologues and songs together and the transitions are very smooth. “

Stephen Schwartz’s “Fathers and Sons” gets the first class vocal treatment from Mike Kozemchak and Carnelia’s “The Mason” is sung equally as well by John Loughney.

Miranda’s two new songs are a welcome addition to the score. “Delivery Boy” is performed with great energy by Manuel Ayala Sapelli. On the more touching side,  the song, “A Very Good Day,” shows the contrast of a nursing home employee and a mom out for a day with her child, performed honestly and vocally solid by RaMond Thomas and the always wonderful Priscilla Cuellar.  She also has a nice turn in Micki Grant’s anthem, “If I Could’ve Been.” You know how it is when you go to the theatre and are just hit by someone’s presence; well that is how it is when Cuellar is on stage.

Musical Director Jake Null leads a very hip 5 piece band consisting of two guitars (Benjamin Young and Bradley Foster Smith), Bass (David Burrelli), Drums (Alex Aucoin) and Null on Keyboard. These five guys know how to rock and when to lay back and just back the singer.

Production elements are very nice. Leon Wiebers industrial set consisting of scaffolding and platforms are expertly lit by Stephanie Freed. Both designers make very good use of the space and the concept is not so clunky that it gets in the way of the performers.

-Read the Full Review at MD Theatre Guide

The eclectic score is made up of songs by a number of famed composers including Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Susan Birkenhead and Mary Rodgers. The show has been updated a few times, most recently in 2009 with two strong songs added by Lin Manuel Miranda (who also wrote the score for In the Heights): “Delivery” and “A Very Good Day.”  The Keegan Theatre smartly uses a condensed one-act version of the show.

The Keegan Theatre’s production (aptly directed by Shirley Sertosky) is excellent, featuring a winning ensemble of 15, many of which play multiple roles. Standouts include Priscilla Cuellar, as both project manager Amanda McKinney, as well as immigrant, Theresa, singing the moving “A Very Good Day,” John Loughney delivering a passionate rendition of “The Mason,” and Sherry Berg, who brings down the house as Delores with the showstopper, “It’s An Art.”

Although the cast features many strong individual performers, the show sounds best in its rousing ensemble numbers including the opening song, “All the Livelong Day” and the poignant “If I Could’ve Been.”

The orchestra led by Musical Director Jake Null, sounds terrific. Leon Wiebers’ costumes effectively capture each of the character’s occupations and allow for striking uniformity in some of the ensemble numbers. Stephanie Freed’s strong lighting helps keep the audience focused on the continuously changing featured characters. Kurt Boehm provides the energetic choreography.

The Keegan Theatre’s Working – A Musical is a heartfelt production with a hard-working talented cast. It offers audiences a great opportunity to see this rarely produced – yet original – and timely piece of musical theatre.

The play, said Serotsky, “gives voice to the person whose story we don’t usually hear. . . . We don’t see a lot of plays about truck drivers [or] waitresses. These are the people we interact with everyday, but it’s not a cultural norm to deem those stories as important enough to be told on the stage.”

What “Working” does is pluck those characters out of the Bruce Springsteen songs where they’ve been hanging around since the ’80s and set them smack at center stage. When the economy is low, interest in those stories is high. With “the Occupy movement . . . it seems, in this country, that the tolerance for [these stories] has flipped over and we’ve said, ‘No, this story is important, too,’ ” said Serotsky.

The cast originally worked with the 1999 version of the show, which is based on Studs Terkel’s best-selling book of interviews, and found it had “frustrating anachronisms,” said Serotsky. “You talk about a pay phone and immediately people are going to step out and say, ‘C’mon, a pay phone?” They negotiated to get the 2009 edition instead. “It was really important to me that it didn’t feel like a period piece.”

-Read the Full Article at The Washington Post

The show, staged with minimal fuss by Keegan Theatre, has a conceit that feels a little like A Chorus Line: It’s based on a series of interviews that author Studs Terkel conducted with people in the ’70s about the highs and lows of their careers. Their stories get strung into a musical revue with snippets of dialogue and songs from a number of composers, from Wicked creator Stephen Schwartz to In the Heights‘ Lin Manuel Miranda, who lends two new songs to the piece based on additional interviews conducted in the late 2000s. The newest incarnation of Working keeps fresh by focusing on topics such as unsung heroes of the home health-care profession and locally familiar jobs such as press secretary.

Keegan has assembled several strong singers for Working–such as Priscilla Cuellar, whose powerful pipes are showcased in multiple numbers…”

“The Mason Singer,” sung wistfully by John Loughney, is about a man envious of the content way a stone worker attends to his tasks, knowing he’s achieving longevity with the buildings he constructs (wanting to achieve immortality through career is a theme that runs through Working). The plaintive “Just a Housewife” (suddenly given a “ripped from the headlines” feel due to recent political debates) focuses on women who feel marginalized by those who put down their decision to opt out of the traditional workforce. On the jazzier side of things, there’s the showstopping “It’s an Art,” the statement of a very satisfied and theatrical waitress (Sherry Berg), and the gospel-influenced women’s number “Cleanin’ Women.” Director Shirley Serotsky moves the show along with punchy choreography and rapid transitions.

-Read the Full Review at Washingtonian

“He’s a guy that for the past century has been giving voice to the underrepresented,” says Serotsky, who is directing the musical “Working,” based on Terkel’s 1974 book ”Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,” at Keegan Theatre.

“I’ve been reading a lot about what [unemployment] does to the psyche of a person who is dealing with not being able to work,” Serotsky says. “So it was interesting to look at a show that deals with what we do, and how we do it, mentally and emotionally.”

The book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author is a collection of interviews with mostly blue-collar workers. Stephen Schwartz helmed the writing of the first adaptation for the stage in the ’70s. Since then, it has been revised to reflect the changing landscape of labor in the United States. Keegan’s production is based on the most recent incarnation, from 2009, which Serotsky says speaks to a more diverse workforce, giving the audience a peek at the ups, downs and daily mundanities of life as a firefighter, an ironworker, a delivery boy, a receptionist, a community organizer . . . the list goes on.

“Working” takes us to an often comedic, yet earnest place. The characters are believable and their stories familiar: the fellow obsessed with decorating his cubicle; the joy of venturing outside to see daylight during the workday; wishing you could hide from your boss. The show’s music is rock- and funk-inspired, with plenty of feel-good ensemble numbers that work with, rather than overshadow, the acting.

“Our mission at Keegan is this very raw peeling back [of] the layers of acting and really being real, as real as you could possibly be to connect to an audience,” says Keegan founder Mark Rhea. “We feel very passionately that [musicals] have to have that same element as our non-musical shows.”

The relatively small troupe has mounted an increasing number of musicals in the wake of its 2009 breakout production of “Rent,” which won two Helen Hayes Awards. “We batted with the big boys there and came out swinging and did all right,” Rhea says. Another musical – “Spring Awakening” – is on deck after “Working.”

-Read the Full Article at The Washington Post