Working [Original Cast Recording]

Overview

Despite an accomplished background as both a writer and an actor, Studs Terkel has never been known as a playwright. It has been left to other writers to put Terkel's works on the stage, and several have given it a shot, including Arthur Miller (The American Clock) and Jamie Pachino (Race). But none of them has had more success than Stephen Schwartz, whose musical adaptation of Terkel's Working has been produced around the world for more than 20 years now. In 1999, Schwartz set about the task of updating the musical to reflect the changes in the workplace since the show debuted in 1978. The cast recording of the revised production demonstrates the continued relevance and resonance of Terkel's work as well as the evocative range of the songs by Schwartz and his five well-known collaborators. The strength of the musical is the diversity of the songwriting, which is meant to reflect the diversity of the working men and women of America. Mary Rodgers and James Taylor are especially effective at capturing the voices of their characters without falling back too readily on musical theater cliches. There are one or two clunkers here that suffer in the translation from live performance to recorded soundtrack (Schwartz's "Neat to Be a Newsboy" tops that list), but on the whole the soundtrack captures the substance of both the musical and Terkel's book. ~ Evan Cater

Product Details

Release Date:	06/25/2012
Label:	Masterworks Broadway
UPC:	0886919910827
Rank:	216939

Tracks

1. Working: A New Musical~All the Livelong Day / I Hear America Singing
2. Working: A New Musical~Lovin' Al
3. Working: A New Musical~The Mason
4. Working: A New Musical~Neat to Be a Newsboy
5. Working: A New Musical~Nobody Tells Me How
6. Working: A New Musical~Un Mejor Dia Vendra
7. Working: A New Musical~Just a Housewife
8. Working: A New Musical~Millwork
9. Working: A New Musical~If I Could've Been
10. Working: A New Musical~Joe
11. Working: A New Musical~It's an Art
12. Working: A New Musical~Brother Trucker
13. Working: A New Musical~Fathers and Sons
14. Working: A New Musical~Cleanin' Women
15. Working: A New Musical~Something to Point To

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Women   Primary Artist
Kenna Ramsey   Primary Artist
David Patrick Kelly   Primary Artist,Primary Artist,Vocals
Matthew McGrath & The Boys   Primary Artist
Susan Bigelow   Primary Artist,Primary Artist,Vocals
Matt Landers   Primary Artist,Primary Artist,Vocals
Joe Mantegna   Primary Artist,Vocals
Robin Lamont   Primary Artist,Vocals
Bob Gunton   Primary Artist,Vocals
Matthew McGrath   Primary Artist,Vocals
Lenora Nemetz   Primary Artist,Vocals
Arny Freeman   Primary Artist,Vocals
Micki Grant   Primary Artist
Stephen Schwartz   Primary Artist,Vocals
Lynne Thigpen   Primary Artist,Vocals
Craig Carnelia   Primary Artist,Vocals
Company   Primary Artist
Bobo Lewis   Primary Artist,Vocals
David Langston Smyrl   Primary Artist,Vocals
Stephen Reinhardt   Conductor,Music Direction
Terri Treas   Vocals
Working: a New Musical Pit Orchestra   Orchestra
Patti LuPone   Vocals
Rex Everhart   Vocals
Brad Sullivan   Vocals
Steven Boockvor   Vocals

Technical Credits

Stephen Reinhardt   Vocal Arrangement
James Taylor   Composer,Text,Composer
Jo Greenfield   Production Coordination
Page Wood   Cover Art
Kirk Nurock   Orchestration
Chaz Clifton   Recording Technician
Craig Carnelia   Text,Composer
Elliot Scheiner   Producer
Ed Rak   Recording Technician
Mary Rodgers   Composer
Bruce Kimmel   Reissue Supervisor
George Marino   Mastering Engineer
Stephen Schwartz   Text,Composer,Lyricist,Producer,Adaptation,Stage Direction
Studs Terkel   Liner Notes
Michele Brourman   Additional Music,Dance Arrangement
Roxanne Slimak   Reissue Art Director
Graciela Daniele   Text,Lyricist
Earl Shendell   Orchestra Manager
Matt Landers   Composer,Lyricist
Susan Birkenhead   Composer
Walt Whitman   Text
Federico Ruiz   Reissue Design
Micki Grant   Composer