So thrilled to discover the high desert area has a thriving theater scene. I caught the closing performance of the Working, A Musical presented by the Hi-Desert Playhouse in Joshua Tree last month and this past weekend Oklahoma! at the 29 Theater in Twentynine Palms. And the ticket prices are affordable!
WORKING, A Musical
The musical created by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso is based on a bestselling book by Studs Terkel titled Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do (1974) which featured interviews with people from all over America and from all walks of occupations. The book led to a musical first staged in Chicago in December 1977. Then made it to Broadway in 1978 where it ran for 24 performances. And since then, it has been staged in many theaters with revisions and new songs along the way.
The hi-desert playhouse production directed by Howard Shangraw with live band music accompaniment directed by Nelms McKelvain was fantastic! At the Blak Box theater in Joshua Tree, the musical featured an ensemble cast of 16 local actors and featured 18 songs. Because it is a small sized theater, every seat was good and close to the drama unfolding.
The cast did an admirable job and the songs touched all the emotional facets of the working life: the pride of achievement, the quiet tragedies, the doubts, the monotony, the hard work... Every piece was creatively presented. I especially enjoyed the sassy waitress song presentation “It’s An Art” and the millworker song "Millwork" about the broken hopes and daily reality of numbing repetitive work. The good performances kept coming. The housewife lamenting her travails in “Just A Housewife”. Some were humorously presented such as the parking lot attendant song. One saw the world changing through the soon retiring school teacher's eyes. And her bright student after high school begins work as a cashier at the local supermarket and the immigrant grocery clerk who can only dream of a better life for his mother & family toiling all their lives in poverty doing farm work, the UPS delivery guy, the stone mason, the newspaper delivery boy, the cleaning ladies who dream of better futures for their offspring, the office clerical staff, long haul truck drivers and more.
The play showed the person behind a job and proved what the director says, “that the everyday lives of common men and women should be so compelling and moving will surprise and inspire anyone who has ever punched a time clock.” The musical was indeed compelling and moving. The beauty, power and magic of live theater performance were all present!
OKLAHOMA!
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first musical project together. It was a smash hit on Broadway with over 2000 performances and is considered "the great American musical". We caught the Theater 29’s presentation of it this past weekend. This theater was founded in 1999 bringing theater arts to the hi desert for twenty years!
Directed by Charles Harvey, the ensemble is a mix of professional and budding actors. Per the director, it is more than a revisionist feel good story. “It is the timeless story of the birth of a nation, there is beauty and there is blemish. It is the audacity of hope, carving out a life that is central to toil and tears, but also indescribable beauty.”
The charm factor outweighs the imperfect singing and dance performances. The presentation was adorable by the diverse cast with different stage experience levels. The racially diverse cast stood out too. It being an old-time specific play when Oklahoma was an Indian Territory before statehood, the old country dialect can be sometimes difficult to decipher but one can see that as an opportunity to enjoy a bygone language of a time and place. And the actors lacked individual microphone so soft singing sometimes were hard to hear. Still one got the idea. And it being a small theater, all the seats were good, especially on the risers.
It was a delight to be acquainted with this famous musical featuring the love story of farm girl Laurey Williams and cowboy Curly McClane. And sad for the brooding angry Jud Fry who wagered all his hard-earned savings for a chance at a more fulfilling life. To see the new world emerging as Will Parker describes his visit to a new city in “Kansas City”. The dream sequence ballet was well done and particularly enjoyable. From the Ado Annie performance of “I Can’t Say No”, the peddler’s song with the menfolk singing “It’s A Scandal, It’s An Outrage” and more were all charmingly presented. Ali Hakim, the persian peddler was especially funny.
Oklahoma! is playing through March (last weekend!) so treat your family and go see this gem of a community theater at its finest!
Theater 29
