Date: Fri 19-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Working-Studs-Terkel-Wharf

Full Text:

THEATRE REVIEW: Hearing The Words, Once Again, Of Studs Terkel

(with cut)

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN -- Years ago in New York I used to hurry home from work to hear

Studs Terkel. WBAI used to rebroadcast episodes of his Chicago radio show, in

which Terkel would interview people.

What was so amazing was how this easy going, non-threatening, neighborhood

bartender type of guy would be able to elicit profundity and eloquence from

the most unlikely subjects. Unwed, pregnant Hispanic teenagers would talk

about love; factory workers would confide their aspirations; fifth graders

from terrible schools would explain to their teachers what they might do to

regain control of their classes.

His collections of oral history filled books: Division Street USA looked at

the ethnic fault lines that divided Chicago. The Good War had people sharing

their memories of the Second World War.

In Working, people from all walks of life reflected on their jobs -- what they

did for a living, what it meant to them, what they wanted or hoped to get out

of life. As always, the book consisted entirely of the real words, of real

people.

The book was turned into a Broadway musical in 1978, by Terkel and Stephen

Schwartz. Now the work has been updated and streamlined, with new musical

contributions by Craig Carnelia and James Taylor, among others. The newest

incarnation continues through April 11 at Long Wharf Theatre.

Like the original, and like Terkel's other books, Working derives its magic

from the powerful and honest prose of the real men and women portrayed in the

two dozen dramatic monologues that comprise the show.

Eight performers change uniforms, hairstyles and accents to become an

iron-worker, a corporate executive, a waitress, a school teacher, a fireman, a

UPS man, a housewife, a call girl, a migrant worker, a supermarket checker, a

parking lot attendant, and so on.

Some find real fulfillment in their work. The parking lot attendant prides

himself on his ability to handle any car perfectly; the mason sees the

foundations he builds as the closest thing to eternity; the waitress rejoices

in her opportunity to meet so many people.

Others are embittered or alienated: Alix Korey is the school teacher who likes

straight lines and looks back resentfully to the days when her children were

neat and obedient and Polish rather than Hispanic.

"They tell me I have to change with the times," she sings plaintively, "but

nobody tells me how..."

Pamela Isaacs takes the audience through the six-step, 40-second process

required to make half a suitcase in "Millworker." The temperature is 115

degrees, she has arthritis in her hands and gets two ten-minute breaks a day

plus 20 minutes for lunch. "Factory work is what you do when you can't do

anything else," she laments.

Ken Prymus radiates satisfaction as the fireman who began life as a policeman

but quit because he realized he "wanted to help people." He also belts out

James Taylor numbers as the parking lot guy and a long distance trucker.

Another theme that runs through the work is the characters' relationship to

their families, from the self-abasement of Ann Harada's "Just a Housewife" to

Pam Isaac's cleaning woman who is following the trade her mother and

grandmother practiced before her, in the days when that was all that black

women could do, just so that her own daughter will be able to have a "real

job."

There are so many memorable lines and images in this show, both the thoughtful

and the thought less comments of genuine human beings, all conveyed by

performers who are extremely talented, both musically and dramatically.

The company got a standing ovation when we saw Working and they surely

deserved it. It's the kind of show, with music, that Long Wharf does so well.

Walt Whitman heard America singing, but Studs Terkel let us hear the words.

More power to him!