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| Working is a success at City Center | |
| Posted by: huskyital (huskyital@yahoo.com) 11:16 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| Saw WORKING last night at City Center.....it is an excellent 90 minutes of entertainment. The highlight is IT"S AN ART about a waitress. All of the performers hit the mark and surprised that Helen Hunt could sing. You should try to catch the next few performances. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center | |
| Posted by: bsonarts 02:12 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: Working is a success at City Center - huskyital 11:16 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I found it a truly mediocre work. The voices were a mixed bag ranging from very good to "having trouble." The addition of the City Center workers stories was a nice touch. But as a musical, few of the songs are engaging. It's tough to find "hummable songs" that talk about work and the narrative style of the music gets tiring -- I know this show has its "lovers." One very bright spot was the wonderful choreography during the show's first 30 minutes -- some of the best I have seen On- and Off-Broadway. For some strange reason, there was virtually no outright dancing for the following 60 minutes (did they run out of rehearsal time?). | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 02:30 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - bsonarts 02:12 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| One very bright spot was the wonderful choreography during the show's first 30 minutes -- some of the best I have seen On- and Off-Broadway. For some strange reason, there was virtually no outright dancing for the following 60 minutes (did they run out of rehearsal time?). In the production I did recently, I think the only number in the latter half of the show that really was fully choreographed was "Cleanin' Women." In the earlier portion of the show, the opening number was a combination of choreo and musical staging, "Delivery" was fully choreographed, and "Brother Trucker" was as well. "It's An Art" had some true dance moments but was more stylized musical staging in general. And "Millwork" relied more on the mimed actions of the factory work, though our choreographer did some nice shaping along with that. If I'm correct that "Lovin' Al" was added back in (it was cut for the 2012 version that clearly formed the basis for the Encores production), that number would certainly lend itself to dance as well. But again, I assume that was done early on in the show if it was indeed done. So I'd say that maybe they did run out of time to do "Cleanin' Women?" Otherwise, you're pretty much right that, as written, the obvious places for dance are earlier in the show. |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center | |
| Posted by: Ncassidine 12:10 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: Working is a success at City Center - huskyital 11:16 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I wish it was a different week - World Pride is just a busy time. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: TMGnyc 11:31 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: Working is a success at City Center - huskyital 11:16 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I would highly disagree that the show is a success. The rewrites about the City Center employees have no bite to them and no real purpose. Without any female executives or women talking about their jobs beforehand, Just A Housewife seems inconsequential. Yes, Helen Hunt can sing, but she had trouble acting while she sang because she was concentrating so hard. Her monologues were fantastic. The sound design, once again, marred the evening with the band overpowering many of the vocals. I was center Grand Tier where the should should have been perfect. Why were some of the songs done with a standing microphone while others done on a body mic? There was no rhyme or reason for it - and it marred Cleaning Women because Tracie Thoms was stuck behind that microphone for no earthly purpose. Javier Munoz was stuck in the back behind the band on a microphone for Fathers and Sons - why????? Sorry, but this had bad staging with perfunctory musical direction. Thank goodness the performers are as wonderful as they are. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: 37Rubydog 01:23 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - TMGnyc 11:31 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| For whatever reason, it always takes CC a couple of performances to iron out the sound balance. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Last Edit: Chromolume 12:33 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:32 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - TMGnyc 11:31 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| Without any female executives or women talking about their jobs beforehand, Just A Housewife seems inconsequential. Interesting point. In the standard rental versions of the show, "Just A Housewife" has come out of several different transitions. Originally it came out of the monologue for the Gas Man (or later UPS Man), who had a short moment with the Housewife to start the scene (and she starts the song once he's offstage). In the 2012 revision, it follows a scene with two telephone operators - then we see the housewife picking up the phone to deal with a newspaper sales call, explaining that her husband gets the paper at work, and then trying to explain that yes, she also works, but at home. Transition into song. So the song has never really been part of a sequence about women at their jobs (save that one of the phone operators is female). But you have a good point that the song might resonate differently if it was. From the descriptions I've seen about this production so far (the new monologues, the restoration of "Lovin' Al" etc), it sounded to me that it would certainly run longer than 90 mins (approximately the running time of the one-act 2012 version). But I guess they've kept it streamlined. I'm a big admirer of Working in general, and in fact I just recently finished doing my 2nd production of the 2012 version, and had a fantastic time, with an insanely talented college cast. But it seems to me that this show has always had as many detractors as supporters, and if the presentation at City Center is sloppy, that's not good. But hopefully things will tighten up and maybe even change as the week goes on. We all know they're essentially throwing these things together, and I wonder if that's ultimately doing more harm than good. |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: TMGnyc 12:37 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - Chromolume 12:32 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| Chromolume, it's not so much what happens directly before the Housewife scene as much as we have seen powerful women previous. We we given female exec's and powerful women previous to the housewife scene. She still has the phone conversation but now we laugh because it's just an annoyance call. As an audience, we see no reason for her to be so apologetic about being a housewife. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:41 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - TMGnyc 12:37 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I can agree with that. I always thought the original transition was better (as much as I like the 2012 version, I definitely miss many things about the original). Originally, the song starts with her as if she were talking to Terkel or an interviewer like him - she's a bit surprised that he would want to interview someone that doesn't "work" in the conventional sense. It seems a bit more natural than the explanation in the new version. (And the lyric "if you'd rather, it can wait" also makes more sense in that context.) |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: larry13 12:22 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - TMGnyc 11:31 am EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I didn't see this production and won't, mainly because I saw a decent version in Phoenix this past winter and I just don't think these wonderful songs add up to a satisfying musical. But if "Just A Housewife seems inconsequential," something is seriously wrong. In the right hands(definitely the OBCR and several cabaret settings), this song packs an overwhelming wallop--or should. | |
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| re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 12:38 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Working is a success at City Center - Highly Disagree - larry13 12:22 pm EDT 06/27/19 | |
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| I took "inconsequential" to mean that it seemed to come out of nowhere, rather than the song having no impact. I agree that the song is - or certainly should be - an emotional wallop when done right. I always get chills in the moment where the ensemble stops singing and the soloist is left to hold that long note ("does") - that huge moment of power all of a sudden becoming very stark. Very dramatic. Also, of course, the realization at the end with "like my mother." Carnelia is an amazing writer. |
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