The musical “Working,” based on American writer Studs Terkel’s best-selling1974 book of the same title, opens Thursday, April 18, at 8 p.m. in the Bruce Davis Theater at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (18952 E. Fisher Road, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686). Produced by the Music Department and the Department of Theater, Film, and Media Studies, “Working” will perform over two weeks, April 18-20 and 25-27, starting at 8 p.m., and on April 21 and 28, starting at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are $4 or $6, general admission. To make reservations, call the Theater Box Office at 240-895-4243 or email boxoffice@smcm.edu. Free parking is available within walking distance to the theater in the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center parking lot or in the adjacent visitors’ parking lot.
Terkel subtitled his celebrated book, “People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do,” which is a collection of his interviews with American workers. Originally produced for Broadway in 1978 and with a recent revival in 2012, “Working” paints a vivid portrait of the men and women the world so often takes for granted and whose lives rarely make it to the musical stage: the schoolteacher, the parking lot attendant, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, the trucker, the firefighter, the housewife and stay-at-home-mom.
Adapted with songs by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, best known for the Broadway musicals “Wicked” and “Godspell,” and singer-songwriter James Taylor, this updated version includes additional songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda of Broadway’s “In the Heights.” The show is directed by St. Mary’s College faculty members Michael Ellis-Tolaydo and Larry Vote, who supplies the musical direction.
