Within the 1988 film “Working Girl,” an assistant secretly stays at her absent boss’ condominium, ogles its opulence alongside her finest buddy and tries on a costume with a $6,000 price ticket.
The brand new musical model of the beloved movie re-creates this iconic scene with 9 ladies onstage. They enter the glamorous dwelling with voluminous permed hair, shoulder-padded blazers and white athletic sneakers — the latter for commuting from the outer boroughs into Manhattan — and take turns admiring the tweed Chanel fits, silk Versace robes and classic Hermes scarves. They then quick-change into fabulous metallic robes and, with the assistance of LED panels and lighting cues, the bed room transforms right into a vogue runway of scintillating secretaries, singing and dancing in female revelry. And that showstopper costume? It now prices $7,000.
The second epitomizes the method of this adaptation, which begins its world-premiere run Tuesday at La Jolla Playhouse: take essentially the most memorable elements of the film and switch up the amount for the stage. The end result: an unabashed celebration of girls, theater and all issues Eighties, led by the quintessential musician who embodies all of it: Cyndi Lauper.
Cyndi Lauper in New York Metropolis in September.
(Larsen&Talbert / For The Instances)
“I want the audience to be entertained — laughing, crying, standing up and feeling like they can do it all too,” Lauper stated of the present, already prolonged by means of Dec. 7. “Not that you can go in your boss’ closet and put on her garments, no! However that thrilling feeling of dwelling within the metropolis within the ‘80s, being creative and not backing down.”
A corporate Cinderella story, the 20th Century Fox comedy starred Melanie Griffith as Tess, a tenacious secretary at a Wall Street brokerage firm who learns that her boss, Katharine, has taken credit for her business proposal. When a ski accident keeps Katharine out of the office, Tess poses as her superior to team up with Jack — an investment broker played by Harrison Ford — and pitch her idea to the top brass herself.
Directed by Mike Nichols, “Working Girl” was nominated for six Academy Awards, highlighting the performances of Griffith, Sigourney Weaver as the deliciously cutthroat Katharine, and Joan Cusack as Tess’ finest buddy Cyn. “The tacit recognition of the barriers that hold the Cyns and the Tesses back and the lack of condescension to them in the direction and in [the] script makes ‘Working Girl’ one of the warmest films that Nichols has touched,” praised The Instances’ movie critic Sheila Benson in her assessment.
Because the “Working Girl” plot is locked into the ‘80s — “If you tried to pass yourself off as an executive today, people would Google you and it’d be over!” joked director Christopher Ashley — the musical wholly embraces the period’s aesthetics in its costumes, choreography and, after all, its rating. “Sonically, there was a lot of individuality at the time, with so many new sounds and genres,” recalled Lauper, a born-and-bred New Yorker who briefly labored as an workplace assistant earlier than her profession took off. (Lauper’s agent even inspired her to audition to play Tess within the film.)
With the launch of MTV, “the ‘80s was the first time we were watching music,” she continued. “Like, the first time we saw Annie Lennox in a boardroom in that suit with her fist on the table, looking right at us and saying, ‘Sweet dreams are made of this,’ oh my God, it stopped you. It wasn’t just her androgynous image or the color of her hair, which was awesome, but it was also the fact that, maybe for the first time, we were getting a real sense of who she was, because music videos were where the artists were in creative control. Anyway, there was a lot of stuff going on then, and we wanted all of it in the show.”
Lauper — whose debut theatrical outing, the 2013 Broadway hit “Kinky Boots,” gained six Tony Awards, together with for her authentic rating — has been writing “Working Girl” compositions for a decade. To create songs for the five-piece band that absolutely represents the number of the period’s music — digital, hip-hop, hair metallic and extra — Lauper introduced in her “Time After Time” co-writer Rob Hyman of the Hooters, Cheryl James of the rap group Salt-N-Pepa and Sammy James Jr., who co-wrote the title music for the movie “School of Rock.” (Carly Simon’s Oscar-winning authentic music “Let the River Run” will not be within the rating.)
Harrison Ford, Melanie Griffith, middle, and Sigourney Weaver, proper, in Mike Nichols’ 1988 comedy drama “Working Girl.”
(twentieth Century Fox)
“Working Girl” is the most recent hit comedy to aim the bounce from ‘80s movie to musical theater, following “9 to 5,” “Big,” “Beetlejuice,” “Footloose,” “Tootsie” and “Back to the Future.” Not all of these titles stuck the landing, critically or commercially.
“I think some musicals get caught in trying to recapture the exact lightning-in-a-bottle of the movie,” said Ashley. “We have the fortunate circumstance of Kevin Wade, the film’s screenwriter, passing this to us and saying, ‘Take what’s helpful and remake what you want to.’”
Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, left, and Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer star within the musical adaptation of the 1988 film “Working Girl,” close to the La Jolla Playhouse.
(Ariana Drehsler / For The Instances)
The manufacturing stars Joanna “JoJo” Levesque as Tess, who’s “a little rougher around the edges” onstage, stated Levesque. “We lean into her working-class background because we’re really telling a story about class, the haves and the have nots. And in this time that we’re living in, that’s important to talk about.” (Sure, Tess nonetheless says her legendary line: “I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin.”)
Likewise, Levesque’s co-star Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer teased that her Katharine has moments of hilariously frantic power — a Kritzer character signature. However, she stays as statuesque and cruel as Weaver was onscreen. “This is my third movie-musical adaptation,” stated Kritzer, who originated roles within the “Legally Blonde” and “Beetlejuice” musicals. Every time, “it’s about figuring out how to make it different but still giving the audience what they want.”
Although Tess and Katharine are rivals within the present, seasoned stage actor Kritzer turn into a mentor of types to Levesque, the pop star who entered the theater scene with a 2023 stint in Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge!” and is originating a task for the primary time. In rehearsals, they assist one another incorporate key vocal influences: Lennox, Pat Benatar, Roxette, Joan Jett, Patti Smith, Blondie and Lauper herself. Onstage, the secretaries collectively echo that very same women-helping-women angle, which could encourage any younger ladies watching.
“There’s so much beauty in Cyndi’s lyrics about dreaming big and using hope as a fuel,” stated ebook author Theresa Rebeck. “In the ‘80s, companies kept getting bought and split open, but our story celebrates that fight for opportunity and coming together to build something new. It was important then, and it’s important now.”
So will all of it attraction to at present’s working women? “It’s been my experience that a lot of the kids like the ‘80s music,” stated Lauper. “I’m always surprised to see how many kids are in my audience.”
