The first thing I noticed as we walked into “Working” at Peninsula Community Theatre on Friday night was a teddy bear hanging tight to the impressively large set of scaffolding on stage.  The second thing I noticed was the hand saw, intimidatingly directly next to the teddy bear.  Don’t worry, I thought to myself – “Deathtrap” up at Williamsburg Players closed a couple of weekends ago.  Of course, my antennae only perked up a little more when the first person I recognized on stage was Jonathan Aspin (most recently in the aforementioned “Deathtrap”).  But I was pleased to quickly find out that this time, he was embodying a fast food worker/delivery driver, and the conceit of the show became clear to me – i.e., we are going to spend the next two hours hearing from and about the lives of everyday people in America, what they do for a living, how they spend their days, and what they think and feel as they get through their working day.

Now, there are a lot of different people with a lot of different jobs in America, and to cover a reasonable sample of them, this show has to move from vignette to vignette quickly and easily – made possible by the simple scaffolding set, and a really strong lighting package, both from Scott Hayes, pushing the show from scene to scene.  Director Kristin Mazzocca’s decision to have the actors change from character to character while on stage served a dual purpose of keeping the show moving, while also emphasizing that these characters they are playing could be any of us – given the right circumstances in your life, you might’ve been Aspin’s delivery man (with a really well executed wind-in-his-hair gag) or Riley Brooker’s story-filled fireman, you could’ve been Emily Hawkins’s overworked project manager or Raymond McNeill’s independent-minded trucker, and you very well might become Christopher Becke’s lonely and heartbreaking retiree.

The show is filled with heartfelt stories about what makes a job interesting to each person, and how their job interacts with (or, in the case of Amanda Christensen’s housewife, is) their personal life.  And many of the characters get songs, written by a who’s who of Broadway composers, to go with their stories.  Andrew Christensen’s stone mason (a job that feels like it wouldn’t make the cut of interesting enough for a musical, but which Christensen really sells) gets a song beautifully sung about him by Taylor Yandell.  Sarah Faber-Catanese brings the passion to waitressing in the very fun – and nicely choreographed – number “It’s An Art” (which is also where we get Robert Walters as a waiter again, always on our bingo card after his turns in “She Loves Me” at SLT and last season’s “First Date” at PCT).  Speaking of fun, well choreographed songs – Andreyah Perry really mops the floor with the competition as she belts “Cleanin’ Women” late in the show.  The most powerful of Sarah Mumford’s choreography was saved for Georgia Hester’s turn at center stage in the song “Millwork”, which Hester brings just the right feel to.  And Melina Llames, in a duet with Walters, evokes tears when they sing about the struggles of being a nanny and an elder care worker in “A Very Good Day”.

I know it feels like I’ve just spent 500 words or so listing individuals – but this is such a strong and consistent cast, where each player gets their turn in the spotlight, that it is hard to cut down from my list of notes.  Each character is someone that the audience is left wishing they could spend just a little more time with (except maybe for one Aspin-played character towards the end of the show… you’ll know it when he starts talking).  But the fact that each cast-member gets their moment in the Sun is exactly the point of the show.  Everyone’s job is unique and important, and even the repetitive jobs are about finding the small moments of happiness and the beauty in them.  And when we all come together – man we can do something great.  The cast demonstrates this especially in the final song of the first act – “If I Could’ve Been” – which gave me goosebumps with the message as well as the perfect balance of harmony and power from the cast, among the best we have heard this year (credit to music directors Mike Mazzocca and Caroline Cashman). 

So keep building that house, keep driving that truck, keep providing that tech support, and keep answering those phones.  We need you and what you do.  Oh, and next time you are on a plane – maybe don’t complain about the cold omelet (which, I just realized – omelet references at PCT might need to be added to our bingo card).