WORLD PREMIERE “WORKING GIRL THE MUSICAL” AT PLAYHOUSE NEEDES FINE TUNING.

Opening nights at the theatre are always exciting. Opening nights at world premieres are most exciting. Opening nights at a world premiere with the person in the form of Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winning Cyndi Lauper in the audience is overly exciting especially since Lauper wrote the music and lyrics based on the movie by Twentieth Century Fox Motion Picture, “Working Girl” by Kevin Wade IS the world premiere.

JoJo Levesque and Anoop Desai

Joanna  “JoJo” Levesque (a wonderful Cyndi Lauper look alike) stars as Tess McGill, the working girl, think secretary/girl Friday,  from Staten Island who takes the ferry to the city every day with her best friend Cyn to her job in a brokerage firm.

There  she stands up for herself in a man’s world. (“Something More”) This is in the 1980’s when women were just starting to break the glass ceiling, but the odds were against them in an office run by men who were in the majority, while the women got coffee, made copies of papers and did odd jobs. 

Cast

When Tess finally gets a woman boss, Katherine (Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer over the top funny), who at first wow’s her then undermines her by stealing an advertising idea away from her and using it as her own, Tess gets a real glimpse into the corporate world.  This in turn leads to Tess meeting the handsome Jack (a versatile singer and dancer “Dream in Royalty”, Anoop Desai) an investment advisor, who tries to win her idea back from Katherine, who is away on a skiing trip.

Lesley Rodriguez Knitzer and Cast

When  Katherine returns and finds out about Tess’s relationship with Jack, the you know what hits the fan and Cyn, (Ashley Blanchet) Tess’s best friend takes the fall, and it's not OK.  

JoJo Levesque and Ashley Blanchet

With book by Theresa Rebecka  and a total of twenty tunes written by Lauper, the musical runs over 2/12 hours with the first act seemingly never ending.  As for the overall production, (I must admit I never did see the movie) as a romcom it’s fine, but this version needs work, and quite a bit. 

It rambles, strays, is redundant, at times not very inspiring, that is until the last  production number “Picture It” with the entire cast, Tess, Cyn and Jack. and needs culling, big time. 

Chris Ashley (his last at the playhouse directed. He will be moving to Roundabout Theatre Co. in New York.

Linda Cho’s costumes are to die for 80’s, Sarah O’Gleby’s choreography is snappy. AMP featuring Erica Jiaying Zhang, scenic design, Amanda Zieve, lighting, Gareth Owen, sound, Hanna Finn, Projections, Charles G. LaPointe, hair and wig design, with Stephen McBride as Musical Director. The all woman band is led by Julie McBride. 

While “Working Girl, the film was written by a man, and Anoop Desai’s Jack is a standout, and handsome  there are plenty of women in this production that make it loyal and true to the working women of the world then and now!

Enjoy. 

See you at theatre.

 When: Showtimes are at  7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays at the 

Where: Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive, UCSD Campus, La Jolla. 

Photo: Rich Soublet II.

lajollaplayhouse.org.