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Theatre Horizon's 'Working' acts like a chore

Theatre Horizon has a real soft spot for nostalgic, hopeful musicals. Working, a 1978 adaptation of legendary broadcaster and author Studs Terkel's book of interviews with employees from all walks, certainly fits the nostalgia bill. Consider this: Forbes just released a list of the fastest-growing and quickest-disappearing U.S. professions. Heading the growth list? Oil roustabouts. Rounding out the bottom five? Actors. So much for singing for your supper.

Theatre Horizon has a real soft spot for nostalgic, hopeful musicals.

Working

, a 1978 adaptation of legendary broadcaster and author Studs Terkel's book of interviews with employees from all walks, certainly fits the nostalgia bill. Consider this: Forbes just released a list of the fastest-growing and quickest-disappearing U.S. professions. Heading the growth list? Oil roustabouts. Rounding out the bottom five? Actors. So much for singing for your supper.

A five-time Tony winner with lyrics and music by, among others, James Taylor and a pre-

Wicked

Stephen Schwartz, the piece depicts a cross-section of the American workforce, from a Wall Street kingpin down to the lot attendant who parks his Benz. Theatre Horizon brought the concept home by conducting and filming interviews with local workers, homemakers and retirees, many of whom appear projected on a small pull-down screen at relevant intervals. These interviews might have gone deeper, but as brief glimpses into, quite literally, other people's business, they add a bit of contemporary interest to a timely subject.

Unfortunately - especially for a young company closing out an otherwise strong season - this production's potential remains unfulfilled. The cast has been reduced from its original 17 to six, which should have also signaled a move to a different venue. Theatre Horizon just can't seem to manage the excess of stage space, and Dan Soule's set works at cross-purposes with Steven P. Nemphos' sound and video design.

For a show that's all about getting an intimate look at its subjects' interior lives, Soule's spare scaffolding gives Upper Merion Middle School's auditorium a downright cavernous look. Making matters worse, its miked actors' voices echo throughout. And though Nemphos' videos are a welcome addition, they are projected on a massive rear wall only in the show's final scene, which includes some faces whose stories we've never heard (though descriptions of participants are posted in the lobby). Given that the large-scale projection warms and unites the set, why is the pull-down screen used at all, and the back wall so little?

Matthew Decker's direction keeps the show's pace at a crawl, and though bright narrative and musical moments shine through - in particular, Alexander Diaz's drug dealer who "likes to set up coral reef ecosystems" in his spare time, and Erin Reilly's boffo waitress who pirouettes gamely through her shift in "It's an Art" - there aren't enough of them. Decker lets dialogue drag, the result being that the real-life-worker videos only serve to highlight how scripted the actors' accounts of their jobs sound.

There's just no momentum or rhythm to the production, which is a real shame. After all, watching a musical - even if, like

Working

, it's all about punching the clock - shouldn't feel like such dreary work.

Working

Through July 27 at Upper Merion Middle School , 450 Keebler Rd., King of Prussia. Tickets: $18- $25. Information: 610-283-2230 or

» READ MORE: www.theatrehorizon.org

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