Studs Terkel's Working (1982)
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Steelworkers, waitresses, and parking garage attendants hardly make the stuff of the traditional Broadway musical. But their voices form the songs and monologues of this plotless paean to the American working stiff, inspired by the bestselling oral history by Studs Terkel. Adapted from the stage… More Steelworkers, waitresses, and parking garage attendants hardly make the stuff of the traditional Broadway musical. But their voices form the songs and monologues of this plotless paean to the American working stiff, inspired by the bestselling oral history by Studs Terkel. Adapted from the stage production by composer Stephen Schwartz, this 1982 American Playhouse production has a pleasingly fluid structure that includes Terkel himself as an onscreen narrator/host. It veers from sentimentalizing working folk to (at its best) questioning the conclusion drawn by a high-priced call girl played by Barbara Hershey: "What you do is what you are." James Taylor sings a truck-drivin' tune, Scatman Crothers and Charles Durning lend a rascally vigor, and Rita Moreno insists "It's an art to be a fine waitress." Strongest of all is Eileen Brennan, with her face out of a Walker Evans photograph, as a weary factory worker resigned to her punishing job. --Robert Horton
- Directed By
- Stephen Schwartz, Kirk Browning
- Genres
- Musical & Performing Arts, Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Apr 13, 1982 Wide
- On DVD
- Jan 15, 2002
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