“Working,” by The Appeal Theatre Group at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, until Saturday 12th July.

A musical with no plot, no great scene changes and a cast of people talking and singing about their working day, doesn’t sound very promising, to be honest.
What makes “Working” work, are the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the characters and their pride in their role in New York life. That, and the Appeal Theatre Group’s evident enjoyment in the challenge of bringing this East Anglian Premiere to Ipswich.

The show is based on a book by Studs Terkel and was adapted for the stage by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso. The score is by Stephen Schwartz (‘Godspell’, ‘Wicked’, ‘The Bakers Wife’ and the recent film ‘Enchanted’) Craig Camelia, Mary Rodgers and Susan Birkenhead, Micki Grant and James Taylor. This mix of writers mean that the songs cover every musical genre you can imagine, from rock and roll to opera, pop to Spanish guitar with country and western, blues and jazz along the way.
My favourite numbers (and those of the first night audience) included “Just a Housewife” (Jane Robinson), “Fathers and Sons” (Duncan Broatch) and the show-stopping “It’s an Art,” sung by the waitress with attitude, (Sally Scurrell).
With the twenty-eight strong cast on stage for the entire show, either taking their turn in the spot-light, acting as backing singers or dancing, this show was a challenge that Appeal managed with ease.
Dances and moves were confident and well- rehearsed, from the casual turning of the giant clock as the working day relentlessly moved on, to the slick handover of the hand mike. My only criticism was with that microphone. Only the soloists used it and that led to some patchy sound levels. Sometimes the accompanying singers could hardly be heard, and when a cast member was speaking over the music some of their words were lost. Perhaps giving everyone a microphone would be the answer?
The set was an interesting arrangement of stairs and levels and the costumes meant the jobs of the characters (though some terms were American ones we might only know from TV) were easily identified. I kept wondering what the actors did in “real life” – the programme gave a few examples…..
As I said initially, an unpromising idea for a musical but the finale “Something to Point To” reminded us that we all have something to be proud of in our work, not just the builder who can see his brickwork every time he passes a building he worked on. By the end of the show you felt just as proud of the workers and their role in society as they themselves were.

A great night out… and congratulations to the Appeal Theatre Group for trying something new – and bringing it off so well.

Rachel Sloane
8th July 2008

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