STAGE REVIEW : GOOD CAST PAYS OFF IN ‘WORKING’

“Working” at the Newport Theatre Arts Center does its job and does it well. Its heroes are the anonymous men and women who slave away at anonymous jobs. It’s surprising how much emotional punch their stories pack; they are by turns exhilarating and devastating. The daily grind may be unusual subject matter for a musical revue, but the material has been approached with evident care, restraint and conviction. The play goes about its job of making the mundane magical.

The revue draws its inspiration from the 1974 book by Studs Terkel, who crisscrossed the country, interviewing U.S. workers. Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso adapted the book for the stage, shaping the material into a series of monologues punctuated by songs.

It is an ambitious idea that director Beth Hansen and her fine cast bring to life with pointed insight. The cacophony that opens the show consists of familiar sounds--the groaning of big machinery, the clacking of a typewriter, the noise of early morning traffic. A collage of small details, it sets the tone of the message to come: Listen carefully. There is dignity in the everyday.

The format offers a showcase for individual performers. Many fine characterizations are created here in the space of brief monologues. The mind-numbing routine of a millworker offers the most poignant glimpse of the working world. Patti McClure invests the part with exhaustion and resignation, evident in the flatness of her voice, the set of her shoulders, the deliberation of her rote movements. She makes her tiny cog in the impersonal mill machinery come alive, fleetingly, before she fades back into the anonymity of the assembly line. It is one of many haunting moments in this production.

Myrna Niles produces a wrenching sketch of an elementary school teacher as she grapples with change, her shredded self-esteem irreparably tied to a job that now confuses and frustrates her. In sharp contrast is a moving solo turn by John Bisom, as a fireman whose unabashed pride in his work pours out like warm water flowing from a tap.

Many of the best monologues are linked with songs. Paul Jackson-Miles delivers the most sentimental number, “Fathers and Sons,” which traces the tangled relationship between parent and child, and his understated approach lets the lyrics speak for themselves. Marie Kelly takes a similar family legacy and turns it into a determined anthem of hope in “Cleanin’ Women.”

Again and again, the cast illuminates the balance of humor and pathos that runs through the workers’ own words. There are no technical gimmicks or gadgets to distract from those words. The choreography is brief and to the point; the minimalist set is minimal indeed, embellished by just a few platforms and staircases.

‘WORKING’ A Newport Theatre Arts Center production. Adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso from the Studs Terkel book. Songs by Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, Susan Birkenhead, Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor. Directed by Beth Hansen. With Karen Angela, John Bisom, Bill Carden, Pamela Dillard, Gregory Franco, Marie Kelly, Patti McClure, Paul Jackson-Miles, Alfredo Miller, Myrna Niles, Mark Steven Randall, Gregory Seifert, Diane King-Vann, Mark Wickham. Musical direction by Beth Hansen. Choreography by Susan Thomas Lee. Set, lighting and sound by Dewey Douglas. Plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Oct. 11, with 2:30 p.m. matinees Sunday, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11. Tickets $9. Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 631-0288.