… singing about work …
People talked about working in Studs Terkel’s oral history book of 1974, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do — in Working, the musical, they sing about it.
It’s a great idea — as composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz — of Godspell and Wicked — thought when he first brought Working to the stage not long after the publication of Terkel’s book. Revised and performed through the years, in its current version it’s an engaging and at times moving series of fine musical numbers (though I wish there were no rhymes, see below), beautifully performed by a cast of six who, all in all, take the parts of twenty-six characters and sing in the ensemble.
… a big musical on its way …
Odyssey calls itself an epic musical and it is. It has the look of a musical headed to Broadway and — with some strengthening — it will get there. Meanwhile, it’s tremendous fun!
First of all, the set is gorgeous. The show is playing in a fairly small theater but the stage is vast and the set uses all of it in a seemingly serendipitous, free flowing way to suggest the sea, the islands in it, the voyages across it, and the high realm of the gods and the earthy realm of humans. It’s a set that conveys the complexity and exhilaration of existence – it’s wonderful, and keeps you on the journey even when occasionally the play gets a little waterlogged. Nets, sails and figureheads — it has lots of blue and turquoise and one wants to be there. (You can even get the flavor in the design of their web page.)
I never saw anything funnier than Enter Laughing. The situations are hilarious, the songs are witty, and the cast is out of sight perfect. If you enjoy laughing, really, you have to see this. It has only one “message”: the life-affirming power of pure fun.
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