‘Working’ and Reworking : Version of the play based on Studs Terkel’s book has a smaller cast, new material.

“It’s hard to have a sense of humor if you’re just considered nothing.” That’s Studs Terkel talking, and he knows what he’s saying. For six decades he’s been telling people about themselves in several media, and winning a Pulitzer Prize along the line.

But maybe the way most people know him is as the author of a book called “Working: People Talking About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do,” and through the musical based on that book, by Stephen Schwartz, with songs by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, and James Taylor.

Even those familiar with the musical “Working” may not recognize it in the revival opening this weekend at Theatre West. Its large roll-call of working folk has been reduced to a cast of five playing all of the roles, and new material has been added, from Terkel’s subsequent book, “The Great Divide,” to bring it, as director Ellen Rooney says, into the ‘90s.

The impetus for this new production, and new version, came from Theatre West members Mark Austin and Mary Garripoli. Austin had long been fascinated by the book and the musical. After moving to Los Angeles from New York several years ago, the itch recurred.

“I’d been thinking,” Austin says, “about the whole change of the government administration that was occurring at that time, because we were coming out of the ‘80s with the me, me, me, and the whole get-rich-quick Reagan Administration. There was suddenly this sort of rediscovery of what is America, and getting back to work, and what that means, looking at hope in America, and what that means.”

Austin began working with Garripoli on a workshop production of the work, deciding to add three more voices to the group, as Garripoli says with a chuckle, “to harmonize with us or we’d look bad.” Having worked on the show in college with director Rooney, Austin called her in to help with his “minimalist rethinking” of the show. They realized that it needed updating, and thought of “The Great Divide.” They also realized they needed the rights to alter the show.

Terkel was easy. A friend of Austin’s worked with Terkel on his last two books and made the contact. Industry friends helped with getting in touch with Schwartz, who owns the property. Both Terkel and Schwartz heard their ideas, approved them, and this “Working” with a new look is the result.

“What Studs is doing with these interviews,” Rooney explains, “is creating an oral history, hearing about what people do in their jobs. It’s powerful, because it’s really an ancient sort of acting form. . . . It’s not a story, it’s not a cabaret. It’s a theatrical poem.”

Garripoli adds, “It’s like the voices that I grew up with, the voices in my house, just common everyday Joes that go to work. But they have a lot of music in them.”

Earlier this month, Terkel was in town to speak at USC’s Spectrum program at the school’s GroundZero Coffeehouse, where Rooney had a chance to fill the author in on the production’s progress. Terkel also talked with The Times about differences between the years when the book was written and today, and the loss of a valid work ethic in the intervening period.

“Work ethic means what?” Terkel snarled, with his omnipresent cigar clenched between his teeth. “It means delight, pride in the craft. Pride in what you do. We say, ‘Look at that lousy garage mechanic cheating me, or that TV repairman.’ Where does he get his lesson? It has to come from the top. I know this guy in a farm equipment plant. He was a very good worker, but he was too slow. He took his time and what he made was good. He got canned. He was not a friend of the gross national product. And when I say gross national product, I mean gross. His partner was a sloppy guy who worked fast, and put out stuff that was no good. The company loved him. The customer would buy a new one, a new model.

“Once upon a time there was pride in work, because the worker was respected. What do we have now? Multinationals closing companies that have supplied a town with work all these years. Suddenly they have no work. They gave their blood, sweat and tears to that company. So how can you expect to have a healthy work ethic, if people are treated in that manner?”

Like Terkel, Garripoli believes people deserve better. She says that what impresses her about the characters in the show “is how much honor and integrity they each have, no matter what they’re doing. . . . There’s no such thing as a little life. Everyone has integrity.”

Austin recalls that in one of the show’s closing songs, “The cast sings in a sort of domino effect, ‘Everyone should have something to point to.’ ”

As Terkel says, “It’s a question of respect.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “Working.”

Location: Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles.

Hours: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. Ends June 11.

Price: $15; $10 seniors and students with ID.

Call: (213) 466-1767.