Review: “Working Gurl” by Joel Steinpreis and Craig Trolli, (and obviously inspired by the 1986 film “Working Girl” by Kevin Wade). Directed by Tricia Beigh. Produced by Bad Actor Productions. With Elisha Anderson, Shannon Campbell, Ray Frenchmore, Em’ma Gawd!, Arika Gloud, Todd Hull, Joel Steinpreis and “introducing Craig Trolli as Melanie Griffith as Tess McSwill”. Now through October 23 at the Jewelbox Theater at Rendezvous.
Here’s a toughie…how do you review a show from a theater company that calls itself “Bad Actor Productions”? I mean, they lay it all on the line…obviously this is not Intiman putting on a revival of a Chekhov play. Bad Actor is more apt to put on on an Intimate production of a Jack-off play… The company specializes in parodies of movies and tv shows which is a staple of late night fringe theater with varying degrees of success. Ian Bell’s Brown Derby Players at Re-bar have a great track record with the genre but I’m less familiar with the Bad Actor gang. I’m happy to report that I enjoyed their new production of “Working Gurl” a travesty of the classic 1986 film with Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford. I had the disadvantage of seeing a preview with a VERY tiny audience; there was only 5 people, (including me) attending the show on Thursday and it’s tough for the actors to play to that small of a crowd and it’s hard on the audience because people are afraid to LOL in such an intimate setting. Not every joke worked but Mr Trolli and company chugged along to make sure the guffaws outnumbered the guffaws.
Do I need to recap the plot of this play? Because I’m guessing most of us have SEEN the original film or are at least aware of the basic plot: tacky, lower class secretary has big dreams and ambitions and a bitchy female boss (fabulously played by Sigourney Weaver in the film) who steals the secretary’s big idea for a business project and passes it off as her own. Bitchy boss has an accident and can’t come into work for a month and secretary assumes her role as an executive and puts together a big business deal and starts a relationship with the bitch-boss’s estranged boyfriend, another executive also working on the big deal. Bitch returns, creates havoc for our heroine who naturally prevails by the end of the film/play. (Oh, I guess I did recap the entire plot…) Plus, there is a theme song by Carly Simon, lots of bad Guidette hairstyles and a tacky lower class boyfriend holding our heroine back, (played by a young, hot Alec Baldwin in the film who has a bareass scene that is sadly not recreated for the play) and a hilarious co-starring role for the awesome Joan Cusack as Melanie Griffith’s sweet but tacky best friend. All these elements, (not including the bareass) are included in “Working Gurl”.
But, this is not a “straight” reworking of the film. Co-adaptors/writers Craig Trolli and Joel Steinpreis have moved the setting to Seattle, transgendered most of the characters and added dollops of 80’s kitsch and references to other films and the music of the era…we not only get a trashing of “Working Girl” in this production but send-ups and references to “Blade Runner” and “Silence of the Lambs” and a huge heap of 80’s era pop songs including a couple of full-fledged production numbers. Most of it works, and most of it is great fun. It’s not brilliant theater or even the best fringe/drag theater I’ve ever seen but with a couple of drinks in you, it does make for a night of drunken hilarity. (I was sober the night I saw it and intimidated by the small house, but it still made me LOL on more than one occasion…if I had been trashed, like I usually am at a Re-bar event, I would have probably have had a laughter induced headache…)
The actors were very much a mixed lot, some obviously with a gift for broad, burlesque, bawdy drag comedy and others less so. Co-writer Joel Steinpreis in the Joan Cusack best friend role, was a particular highlight with an excellent sense of comic timing, the ability to throw away a line for the purposes of setting up a bigger laugh to come, and a knack for physical comedy that rivals Ms Cusack herself. The token men actually playing men in the show, Ray Frenchmore in a variety of roles but primarily in the dumb, hunky Alec Baldwin part, and Todd Hull as Harrison Ford both display they have comedic chops as well as being assured stage performers with the ability to actually perform as professional actors. Em’ma Gawd! was fine channeling the bitchiness of the Sigourney Weaver role and is an example of another actor not afraid to make a fool of herself on stage if it’s necessary for the good of the role/production.
Our star, co-writer and producer Craig Trolli, “as Melanie Griffith as Tess McSwill” is center stage for the entire show and Mr Trolli has enough charisma to pull it off. His Griffith impersonation is pretty spot-on and he’s another actor not afraid to look ridiculous to benefit the production. Sheathed in a body stocking and enhanced fat padding and simulated cellulite, “Melanie/Tess” is frequently stripped down to nothing BUT that stocking and while it’s not very flattering, it is very funny. And, just when the dim bulb nature of the character might seem a bit one-note, Mr Trolli subtly displays the (limited) growth of the character by small changes in vocal inflection and body posture to reflect that growth and prove his own ability to craft a character, even in such a broad, campy production as “Working Gurl”.
Production values are VERY limited in this barebones production and my only major gripe concerns the scene changes which take too long and aren’t very smoothly coordinated. One suggestion: bring on a couple actor/dancer types, dress them up in tacky 80’s style or blackout “mime’ clothes and make the changes PART of the show. It might speed things up and keep the rhythm flowing a little more smoothly.
Who’s this show for? It’s for lovers of campy, kitschy, broad fringe theater who enjoy a couple of cocktails/beers with their show. And, it’s a CHEAP date…ticket prices are UNDER $10 and that’s a great buy for nightlife lovers on a budget. Worth a look see for that alone. Check it out.
-Michael Strangeways
