Working- March 6 2011

Working- Broadway Playhouse- March 6 2011 at 7:30 PM

As a season ticketholder for broadway in chicago, I got tickets to a show that I knew nothing about. Working was the title. Working is based on the book by Studs Terkel. This show involved a number of scenes that are based off of interviews with real life people that Studs Terkel interviewed. So the basis of the story is learning about what people do for a living and how they live their lives and work their jobs. In this way there is no coherent plot to the story but simply a set of vignettes that aloow us to meet the characters for a short time and hear them sing about their life. That being said, the whole idea of working for a living ties the stories of the characters together. We see these actors change from character to character on stage as they only stay one person for one single scene.

Doing the small amount of study that I did on the show, I was anticipating seeing another show with one of my favorite Chicago Actresses, E. Faye Butler. Once again she did not disappoint. The last time I saw her on stage, she was portraying the lead role in Caroline or Change. This performance in Working was simply fantastic.Her portrayal of the many different characters was simply dynamic. Her vocal and character choices for each character that she portrayed were so different and strong. Her transformation from one scene as a prostitute to the next as a housewife was flawless. Also stealing the show was Michael Mahler. His character choices were strong and his voice was strong in his many songs. Emjoy Gavino and Gabriel Ruiz added a certain level of humor to each and everyone of their characters as well as adding more fantastic voices to the mix. My biggest disappointment was in the role of Gene Weygant. His characters were all very similar and his voice was simply not as strong as the rest of the cast.

Leaving the theatre, I was hesitant to describe a true stance that I had on this show. As the week after moved along and I looked more on the experience that I had had, I realized how much I really enjoyed this production. Yes I did miss a coherent plot and developed characters, but the characters and voices that came out of most of the actors, were strong and I loved them. Overall I did really enjoy this show and would see it again. Working plays at the Brodway Playhouse at Water Tower Place til May 08

Overall Rating- 7/10 
 Theatremandan