After more than a year of this global pandemic, practically any live theatrical presentation would be better than yet another streaming program. Although it will be also available in that virtual format later in its run, “Working: A Musical,” the Alliance Theatre’s updated version of a 1970s show based on the book by oral historian Studs Terkel, is most notably part of the company’s Under the Tent series of outdoor in-concert performances.
With no lavish set pieces or splashy production numbers, per se, with barely the simplest blocking or choreography, director Tamilla Woodard’s staging (so to speak) isn’t particularly theatrical at all, in fact. Separated by Plexiglas partitions, six actors stand apart from one another, mainly just reciting monologues and singing songs about the “extraordinary dreams of everyday people.”
Credit: Greg Mooney
Credit: Greg Mooney
The initial 1978 Broadway production, with a script adapted by Stephen Schwartz (“Wicked”) and Nina Faso, only ran for less than a month, but the show has acquired something of a cult following and has undergone numerous other iterations since then. Woodard’s latest revamp incorporates new interviews conducted with many of the often-unsung working-class people who have “impacted and sustained Atlanta over the past year.”
Several of the original songs included in the show were written by Schwartz, in addition to the likes of James Taylor, Craig Carnelia and Micki Grant; “Hamilton” wunderkind Lin-Manuel Miranda contributed a pair of tunes for an earlier revival, which are featured here, too; and this Alliance rendition also premieres one new song composed by musical director Brandon Bush (and his brother, Kristian, with lyrics by Carlos Andrés Gómez).
Accompanied by a three-piece band (Stello Clark on keyboards, Jen Hodges on bass, Q Robinson on drums), the ensemble features familiar local talents Courtenay Collins (“The Prom”), Rob Lawhon (“Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story”) and Brad Raymond (“Chasin’ Dem Blues”), alongside comparative Atlanta newcomers Jewl Carney, Tawana Montgomery and Eddy Rioseco — all of whom relish their moments to shine.
Some songs land more effectively than others in the show’s timely new context. One of Collins’ two big solos (as a frustrated teacher in “Nobody Tells Me How”) begins with an intro tweaked to now include modernized references to cellphone texting and Instagram bullying, but nary of a mention of school closings or at-home learning. In the second (as an upbeat waitress in “It’s an Art”), incongruously, you’d think business had been just as busy and booming as ever.
Other musical interludes, though, resonate all the more deeply and beautifully under these especially trying times of late. “What I do is out of fashion, how I feel is out of date,” Montgomery laments as a stay-at-home mother in her lovely ode to being “Just a Housewife.” “All I do only really matters to three people,” she observes of her family.
In a terrific one-two punch of sorts, Raymond scores with consecutive and contrasting solos as a lonely retired widower (the rueful “Joe”) and a lively valet parking attendant (the jazzy “Lovin’ Al”). Lawhon similarly leads a rousing honky-tonk routine (“Brother Trucker”) early on, and, strumming his own guitar, an introspective familial ballad (“Fathers and Sons”) near the end.
That new song, the group number “5 Things,” is an inspirational anthem about social activism and community outreach. Still, the moment that truly stops the show belongs to Rioseco and Carney. When they join their voices to deliver “A Very Good Day,” a heartfelt duet about healthcare professionals serving in the kind of essential, front-line jobs that “no one else will,” the Alliance’s “Working” most clearly works at its very best.
THEATER REVIEW
“Working: A Musical”
Through June 6. Remaining live in-concert performances are sold-out. Scheduled for streaming via the Alliance Theatre Anywhere platform (May 25-June 6). For details and ticket pricing: 404-733-4650, alliancetheatre.org.
Bottom line: A nicely performed assortment of monologues and songs.
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