By SHARON EBERSON
If there were justice in this world, the word just would never leave our lips when talking about a person’s profession. Let it be known that there are no such things as just a parent or ironworker, a delivery person or waitstaff.
“Not just …” is a running theme throughout the highly entertaining and enlightening Working musical, currently occupying the New Hazlett Theater, courtesy of resident company Front Porch Theatricals.
The inspiration for the show comes from Studs Terkel’s seminal study of American labor, which he followed with the subtitle, “People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.” Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso adapted the book into a musical first in 1978. Front Porch’s production employs the 2012 revision, with contributions by Gordon Greenberg and updates representing three decades hence.
(Images: Martha Smith and Nancy Zionts for Front Porch Theatricals)
The arrival of Front Porch’s first of two summer musicals continues to be as sure and welcome a sign of the season as a robin is to spring. Front Porch reliably provides opportunities for an all-local team of exceptional artists, on stage and behind the scenes, while delivering thought-provoking musicals that are too often overlooked.
The current production, directed by Daina Michelle Griffith, has found ideal matches of individual talents to multiple characters, and songs by multiple artists — no easy task.The production also updates the update in some ways. Smartphones are ever-present, and fast food is delivered via Uber Eats, which was officially launched in 2015.
The revision continues to employ workers’ words from the book — their yearnings, their frustrations, their aspirations — and marry monologues to songs by himself and other artists. The update tosses a few songs (one about newsboys, as a sign of the times) and adds a couple by Lin-Manuel Miranda. You can hear the distinct LMM styling in his songs; likewise, James Taylor’s “Millwork” and “Brother Trucker.”
On that ‘70s-era trucking song, Matty Thornton is memorably “driven” on a moveable staircase. His voice is perfect for Taylor’s cadence, and, on occasion, his Pittsburgh twang was dahn-right in evidence.
Terkel interviewed people from all walks of life, and many are depicted here: firefighters, caregivers, masons, ironworkers, waitresses, sex workers, call center operators, receptionists, bosses, and project managers. As a “Cleanin’ Woman,” by Micki Grant, the marvelous Melessie Clark sings that she has come from generations of women in that role, women “without faces,” but not so for her daughter. “You’ll never see her get down on her knees / Unless she’s down there to pray.”
Clark’s powerful voice shines as “Just a Housewife,” supported by the other women in the show.
Another crowd-pleaser is “It’s An Art,” about a waitress who loves her job and carries it to extremes of theatricality, performed with joyful abandon by Vanessa Reseland.
Pittsburgher Lenora Nemetz — who originated the song on Broadway — was in attendance, and I asked her what it was like to watch someone perform the role in her hometown. She declared the performance and production “wonderful,” and pointed out that this was a very different show than the 1974 Broadway version, which had a cast of 17 playing multiple roles, including Patti LuPone as an “editor” and a “call girl.”
Front Porch’s hard-working cast of six featured performers, with an ensemble of four (Emma Brown Baker, David Ieong, Drew Dela Llana and Macolm McGraw), moves in and out of roles, with Reseland, for example, also a teacher and socialite, among others.
The buoyancy of “It’s An Art” gives way to poignancy, with Stefan Lingenfelter as “Joe” (song by Craig Carnelia), a retiree whose post-work fulfillment is finding ways to engage with friends and generally keep busy.
His caregiver, played by Dylan Pal, and a nanny, Cadee Velasquez, duet on the moving “A Very Good Day,” not only about how seriously and lovingly they take their responsibilities, but about the time they sacrifice with their own families.
The musical without intermission moves smoothly from job to job, monologue to musical number, with transitions that never feel forced. The set design by Johnmichael Bohach uses the tiers of the New Hazlett’s thrust to fine advantage, with steps that lead to, say, Lingenfelter as a swaggering, demanding boss, able to look down on the people beneath him, or as an urban stoop, or represent the heights that can be reached by skyscrapers, with every nut and bolt placed there by hands of a worker.
Music director Doug Levine leads a quartet of Pittsburgh’s finest, with Ken Karsh, Tim Nwranski, and Paul Thompson.
Attending Working, I could not help but think about not just the talented people onstage, but those unseen, in the control booth, the ticket-takers, the producers, the set builders at City Theatre — all the people it takes to put on a show.
Working is not just a highly enjoyable night out, with tuneful songs and memorable performances. It’s a reminder that the barista who creates a milky leaf on the surface of your latte, or the clerk at the DMV, or the person singing their heart out for your entertainment has a story to tell beyond their working life, just as you do.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Front Porch Theatricals’ production of Working is at the New Hazlett Theater, North Side, May 15-24, 2026. Tickets: https://www.frontporchpgh.com/. Note: Front Porch producers Nancy Zionts and Bruce Smith revealed before the show that composer Stephen Schwartz, who earned a post-graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University, sent a video message to the cast of Working.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Our Posts, Reviews
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