Review: La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere ‘Working Girl’ is well-timed for Broadway
- Anita W. Harris
- 1 hour ago
- 5 min read
The 1980s seem to be having a moment today. High-waisted jeans, oversized blazers and “Stranger Things”’ quantum leap from Netflix to Broadway are just some of the ways the pre-internet decade is infiltrating our digitally saturated consciousness.
Enter the exuberant “Working Girl” — La Jolla Playhouse’s world-premiere musical based on the 1988 film by Kevin Wade and directed by Mike Nichols, with an inspiring score by Carly Simon. If anything captures why the ‘80s was so much better, and why we need its ethos more than ever, it’s this play, revamping the film in all the right ways.
Sure, there was sexism and restrictions on women’s reproductive choices then, but it was being pushed back against. Class inequality? Yes, but you could break through those boundaries if you tried hard enough. Materialism? It was embraced and even embodied by a “Material Girl,” but that didn’t preclude people connecting with each other in a way that’s somehow difficult today, despite our more advanced communications tech.
With its book by Theresa Rebeck and music and lyrics by ‘80s icon Cyndi Lauper, “Working Girl” tells the story of the film but with a few tweaks that may make it even more satisfying to us now, nearly four decades later, when sexism, class inequality and gross materialism may actually be taking a turn for the worse again.
Most visibly, the play is way more diverse than the film. Tess McGill (Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, amazingly understudied by Ashley Levin) is still a young woman from Staten Island commuting by ferry to Manhattan to work as a secretary for a financial firm. But she is not alone. Her posse of five other secretaries (all with big coifs, thanks to Charles G. LaPointe’s hair and wig design, complementing Linda Cho’s 80s costuming) is nearly always with her, and nearly all are non-white, including sympathetic best friend Cyn (Ashley Blanchet).
It’s striking that Tess as a white woman is the only one with a dream big enough to want “Something More,” but each of the others (Alisa Melendez as Amy; Sydni Moon as Lee Ann; Amy Hillner Larsen as Molly, understudied by Patricia Jewel; Jacqueline B. Arnold as Lois; and Jennifer Perry as Olympia) at least has a distinct personality — all the girls just having fun playing dress-up in “Notice the Woman.”
And fellow dealmaker and potential love-interest Jack Trainer, played in the film by Harrison Ford, is here portrayed as Indian American with his own outsider backstory, suavely enacted by Anoop Desai showcasing smooth Michael Jackson dance moves in “Dream in Royalty.”
In another change, Tess’s boyfriend Mick (Joey Taranto, owning his role) is a Mötley Crüe-esque musician with a mullet, but with the same clueless, patriarchal sensibility as in the film that makes Tess his appendage instead of a person. “Get You Hot,” a song he writes expressly to woo her back after a breakup, is mostly about how he has the shot for her fever. But while Mick may be incapable of advancing in attitude, we still feel sorry for him when he's left hanging and confused at the end — it’s not even clear that Jack wins what seems to be their vocal showdown.
This way of making all characters somewhat sympathetic — perhaps more fitting in our time when no one is really “mean” but instead suffering from mental health challenges like anxiety, depression or maybe just privilege — is a credit to playwright Rebeck and applies to Tess’s boss and nemesis Katharine (Lesley Rodriguez Kritzer, brilliantly understudied by Larsen) as well.
While Katharine blatantly steals Tess’s business-deal idea as in the film and goes on to break her leg skiing in Europe, we don’t hate her, mostly because she makes us laugh as we periodically see her in a hospital bed singing little ditties in French, Italian or German, depending on whom she’s trying to convince to invest money with her. A new twist tacked on late in the play is that she wants children to pass on her (and Jack’s) wealth.
Like Mick and even Jack, Katharine is what she is and will survive. But Tess and Cyn are more vulnerable and interdependent, their relationship becoming the unexpected heart of the play. Cyn is endlessly supportive of Tess’s dreams, even willing to sacrifice her much-needed job, which Tess takes for granted in her single-minded focus to move “No Place But Up.” The strength of their friendship is tested, its stakes even higher than Tess’s business escapades thanks to Blanchet’s embodiment of Cyn’s warmth and humanity.
While that story is moving, making the play even more female-forward than the film, the production as a whole is also a sheer joy to experience, mostly due to Christopher Ashley’s dynamic direction and a vocally talented ensemble cast energetically executing Sarah O’Gleby’s choreography.
Moveable desks and chairs (scenic design by AMP featuring Erica Jiaying Zhang) help keep things flowing, as do active lighting by Amanda Zieve and creative and vibrant floor-to-ceiling projections by Hana S. Kim evoking everything from cityscapes to a collage of Apple Macintosh computers to Tess sailing by the Statue of Liberty in the ferry.
With songs like “When the Penny Drops” and “Mergers and Acquisitions” that capture the moment without sounding too synth-pop ‘80s — its music performed by a live band on stage directed by Julie McBride featuring keyboards, drums, guitar and bass — culminating in the heartfelt anthem “Working Girl,” so spirited it felt like Jack might even join in, the play reflects an ethos of forward-looking camaraderie that contrasts today’s cynicism and disconnection.
The play is also deliciously humorous, even when reflecting the greed and limitations of the era, such as in the well-choreographed and rap-inflected and “That’s the Way It Works” about how it’s a man’s world. But Tess’s gumption is a reminder that one can still choose to work hard, follow one’s instincts and take chances, offering a knee to a crotch when necessary, to achieve a dream.
“Working Girl” offers a refreshing, energetic take on that spirit, one that should go over well even on Broadway, should this production follow the path of “The Outsiders” after it had also premiered at La Jolla Playhouse. The timing couldn’t be better.
“Working Girl” performed from Oct. 28 to Dec. 14 at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Theatre, 2910 La Jolla Village Dr., La Jolla. For more information, visit LaJollaPlayhouse.org. Run time is 2 hours and 20 minutes, including intermission.