Studs Terkel's Working (1982)

a great dvd

never say you "have it bad" until you have walked in someone elses shoes..everyone has troubles..
this play tells the story from the other side..and everybody has a story..you are not the only one..

this is the story of "working"
I love the dvd .. and it is the best for the year of 1982..the play was from the year 1978 and it was on a stage.. the only thing is ..the actor "david patrick kelly " sings a song called "the mason" which was from the play. but is not on this dvd ..it has been cut from this ..he has a great voice and is a fantastic actor even today..I am sorry to have missed seeing that part being I am such a big fan of his .
the play was shot for the tv station PBS and is in "play form"
the film was remastered and sound is great also.
there are so many good actors in it as well some are not with us anymore but good to see on this..
there are many scenes that tells the stories of how people deal with thier jobs and what they do for a living.. I will watch this dvd again and again . it hits close to home with me..


January 21, 2006

What an awful imitation of the original!

I was excited to watch this video; I absolutely LOVED the soundtrack CD with the original cast.

YUCK! I HATED the video. It was like watching a Sesame Street version of the show. Caricatures and stereotypes, nothing like the intelligence and deep emotion of the original cast.

Sorry. I thought this video was a joke. Like some low budget made-for-TV PBS time-filler. Like "The Ten Commandments", reenacted by the cast of the Brady Bunch. December 17, 2005

Some great stuff

This production moved me when it first aired, and I was not disappointed when I bought the DVD. I remember thinking back in 1982 that some performances/songs were fantastic, others less so. This holds true today: Eileen Brennan is heart-wrenching as the millworker, as is her song; Rita Moreno is perfection as the waitress, with another great song; Beth Howland may not have been the perfect choice for the housewife, but the song is so good it doesn't matter; and who can resist Edie McClurg as the hotel switchboard operator?

Overall, this production has much to commend it - the closing number chokes me up every time I see it. It may not be perfect, but let's be glad it was done! November 29, 2004

Hey Somebody, Don't You Want To Hear...

The story of my life? So begins one of the most underratd musicals ever. With a simple message, "Everyone has a story." This is a TV adaptation of a musical based on a book by Sociologist and pundit Studs Terkel available by the grace of God for the first time on DVD. I knew the play from high school and was anxious to see it on film. It's a fairly reliable adaptation of the play, except that it omits two very fine songs and is kind of simply set up (it was PBS after all).

For those unfamiliar with the book or the musical, Working is based on a series of interviews Terkel performed with people from all walks of life. The book was subtitled "People Talking About What They Do All Day And How They Feel About What They Do." Composer and Lyricist Stephen Schwartz (with help from the likes of James Taylor and Craig Carnelia) adapted the interviews (which were verbatim from these peoples' mouths) into a musical.

Now let me adress a common concern right here. "I don't like musicals." Something like that is simply impossible to say. It's like saying "I don't like soup." You can't. There are too many different kinds of musicals (indeed soups) to say that you hate them all. Do you hate bright and sunny musicals like "Meet Me in St. Louis" or lavish dance numbers like "42nd Street" or quasi-historic grandeur like "Camelot?" In Working the musical performances are limited to singing at the camera, or singing off camera.

And the singing is performed by some wonderful people. "Rocky Horror's" Barry Bostwick as the Steelworker, Scatman Crothers as a Parking Lot Attendant called "Lovin' Al: The Wizard," "West Side Story's" Rita Moreno as a Waitress who feels like an artist, Charles Durning as a retiree, Patti LaBelle as a Cleaning Woman and James Taylor (mentioned above) as a Trucker. Highlights include Bostwick's stirring ballad "Fathers and Sons" Moreno's "It's an Art" and the highly affecting "Me and My Machine" performed by an unseen vocalist during the Millworker scene.

People who do these jobs, might be inspired by these completely true stories. And people who interact with these people might be inspired as well. Inspired to spend a few brain cells thinking about the guy who put his car together, talking to the telephone operator who's been having a hard day, showing respect for the cleaning woman, you even see hookers in a new light.

"Hey somebody, don't you want to hear the story of my life?" October 16, 2002

Could have been better

...- the production is flat & lacking in energy (especially in the chorus numbers "See That Building" & "I Hear America Singing/All the Livelong Day") and sets look cheap. And some of the actors are miscast or can't sing very well. It would have been much better filmed in performance with an audience instead of an empty studio.
I happen to have done this musical & like it, but this is just an OK production. Fans of the show will want to buy it as it's the only "movie" version available.

There are standout performances - Barbara Hershey as a vulnerable hooker, Eileen Brennan as an exhausted millworker, Edie McClurg as a perky operator, Charles "Hill St Blues" Haid as the mischievous "gas man," Charles Durning as a retiree, and James Taylor adds a nice touch as he sings something he actually wrote for the show ("Brother Trucker").

But there are also annoying, jarring or boring performances, like Beth Howland as the housewife & Didi "Grease" Conn as a receptionist - both of them breathy & nasal.

Some actors push it too hard - seems like most were cast because they were the "hot A list" for the moment (i.e. the late 70s) which makes the show a little dated. It would have been better casting some unknowns (but great singers from Broadway). So "Where Are They Now?" - Eileen Brennan? Barbara Barrie? Beth Howland? Didi Conn? Matt Landers? Vernee Watson-Johnson?

Good thing they didn't make an album of this soundtrack - its thin singing & orchestrations pale in comparison to the original cast album of 1978, which has much better singers (like Bob Gunton & David Patrick Kelley) and there's more excitement, feeling & fullness in the songs.

Interesting note: Lynne Thigpen (cast as receptionist) & David Patrick Kelley (playing an activist Copyboy complaining about his capitalist newspaper) are the only ones from the original Broadway cast to make it into this broadcast, originally shown on PBS ~1982. On Broadway, Kelly sang the soaring ballad "The Mason," which very unfortunately was cut from this version. Pigpen sang "Cleaning Women." August 24, 2002

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