"If you punch a time clock, this show is for YOU!"
The Very Little Theatre concludes its 73rd season with a four-week run of the musical Working, a tribute to blue-collar working men and women, based on the best-selling book by Studs Terkel. This delightful show celebrates the diversity and commitment of Americans in everyday occupations: a newsboy, schoolteacher, steelworker, housewife, parking lot attendant, millworker, sailor, fireman, grocery clerk, waitress, and many others who sing and talk about their jobs, their hopes and aspirations.
Much as the musical A Chorus Line tells the story of dancers through the individual eyes of each performer, so does Working reveal the personal stories of its characters through songs and monologues-rather than a true story line or plot- thereby painting a memorable portrait of the common, yet extraordinary, men and women who punch a time clock. The characters' emotions range from resignation to inspiration, from poignancy to pride.
Terkel's book was a sensation when it came out in the 1970s, and became a touchstone for the millions of American laborers whose stories are rarely told in the mainstream media. Terkel explains it best by saying, "It was a celebration of the 'ordinary' people, whose daily lives are unsung ... the anonymous many, whose lives touch ours every day without our realizing it." |
