‘Working Girl’ Takes Audience Back to the ’80s

By Sandi Masori

SAN DIEGO— Gen X’ers will be delighted with the current play at the La Jolla Playhouse right now, Working Girl. It’s a real trip down memory lane.

For those who don’t remember the 1988 movie starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver, it’s about a secretary (Tess, played by Griffith in the movie and Joanna “JoJo” Levesque in the play) trying to get ahead in 80’s Wall Street.  But she’s hampered by her night school education and strong Staten Island accent. She’s also struggling to deal with the type of sexual harassment that most women in the workplace learned to brush off as it was so common, (like her boss patting her on the behind or suggesting that a private trip to his office would help her get ahead).

Tess finally gets placed with a female boss, Katharine (Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer), and thinks that she will finally be seen and able to contribute. She gives Katherine a great idea for one of their clients, but is told that they wouldn’t be interested in it. Later, while covering for Katherine while she is skiing in Europe, Tess learns that Katherine stole the idea and was going to act on it herself, bypassing Tess. She gets mad and decides to take matters into her own hands. So she impersonates her boss, and reaches out to Jack Trainer (Anoop Desai) to put the deal together herself. Things get chaotic and complicated from there.

The play was cute, as most IP plays are. Because of the nostalgia factor, it will probably do well. The acting was as incredible as you would expect from a performance at the La Jolla Playhouse with all equity actors. Desai and Joey Taranto as Mick were easily the best singers in the cast.

I have to say I was really disappointed in the soundtrack. It was widely advertised that it was written by Cyndi Lauper, so I had high expectations that it would be super ear wormy, but have to say that, like many musicals built off of former hit movies, it was forgettable.

There was a questionable moment in the beginning of the play where the secretaries were complaining about their working conditions and one girl comments that her boss told her that she needed to lose weight.  That was followed by someone saying that so-and-so said she was okay with it, to which she responded “of course she is, she’s skinny.”

It could have been a great line that would have done much to make us women of size feel seen, but because it was delivered by a skinny actress it just fell flat. I think the line should have been given to one of the larger actresses or the part should have gone to a bigger girl. While the entertainment industry is getting more and more inclusive, parts for big girls, especially white big girls, are still few and far between. We’re often relegated to the funny, unattractive best friend or sidekick. But I digress…

There is another moment in the play where the dialogue may have been changed to match the actor, and that’s when Desai as Jack (the same part played by Harrison Ford in the movie) is talking about how his name was “Americanized” from a very Indian name, and another moment when he referred to his distant Indian royal ancestors. Since this is a world premiere play, my thought is that the lines were added to fit the actor, rather than the part having been written for an Indian lead. Which leads me to wonder why they didn’t fix the “skinny” line. (Yes, it really bothered me, perhaps hitting too close to home).

Other than that, I really enjoyed seeing such a multicultural cast and especially enjoyed the all-too-accurate representations of the 80s (did we really think our hair looked good!?) Kudos to the actresses playing the ladies in the secretary pool for bringing the energy. Like I said, the play is cute, the choreography and projections of  multiple ceilings augmenting LED backgrounds, were well done. Despite my reservations, I could see it going to Broadway and even having success as a touring show.

Working Girl plays through December 14.

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Associate Editor Sandi Masori is a food and restaurant reviewer for San Diego Jewish World