Perhaps you will Emjoy this interview with Eric and Andy!

Working is a vital new musical based on the book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Chicago's own Studs Terkel. Adapted by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin and Godspell) from the original adaptation by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, Working is the working man's A Chorus Line. We caught up with hot, up-and-coming star of the Chicago Theatre Scene, Emjoy Gavino, in a burned down bodega on Pulaski and asked her how she got involved with this production opening on the 15th at the Broadway Playhouse.

Hi Emjoy! Thanks for meeting us at this old burned down grocery store.

I love it. Reminds me of my childhood.

So let's quit wasting time and have a seat here in the produce section. Tell me about your history in Chicago Storefront Theatre and how it led to you working on "Working".

Honestly, I'm still not sure how it led me to work on "Working." I started by not working in theater for almost a year, having to go back to Seattle for gigs. I finally scored a reading at Chicago Children's where I met Geoff Rice who told me about Barrel of Monkey auditions the next day and Halena [Kays] cast me the next month. I did some children's theater, then understudied for Chicago Children's with Sean Graney, the Goodman with Mary Zimmerman and Steppenwolf with Frank Galati, the whole time trying to claw into storefronts...Theatre Seven and House happened to cast me last year which was fun. And roles at Court and Lookingglass happened right after my year and a half of understudying. Nowhere in there did I ever think a musical would be in my career, ever again.

So you sort of skipped the storefront scene almost entirely and went right to the big houses.

Not on purpose! By any means! Maybe I wasn't fringey enough?

Well, you know that storefront people really likes to have white people in their plays, so maybe that's why.

That's what I meant by "fringey." "White."

So, you have a funny story about getting an audition for this show.

A friend of mine got a call from her agent telling her she'd be "perfect" for this role in Working, the musical. I think she laughed for thirty seconds and said, "no," then immediately called me. I wasn't so sure about auditioning for something that huge, but it sounded like a fun project so I called my agent asking why I hadn't heard about it and he informed me he "totally was just about to call me."

My agent is totally about to call me all the time too. So you went in, and blew them away and didn't have to have a callback or anything.

Not at all -- I went into a little room at a casting office and read three monologues for Becca Knights and then didn't hear anything for months. Then I got called into...audition for Working...for a camera...THEN, a month later, I auditioned for the director, and then the next day were callbacks in front of Stephen Schwartz. After which they called me an hour after I left the callback. Or rather, my agent did.

Wow. So tell me about what it's like to work with Stephen Schwartz. You know he worked with Ben Vereen.

Well, I haven't gotten to work with him so much, he was very kind to me at my callback and he watched part of one rehearsal our first week, but this weekend I think he's watching run thrus so maybe we'll get to chat with him then.

Well, if you want a little advice...He's a New York Jew, so talk a lot about good Chinese restaurants and sneakers.

Should I not have offered him a bagel?

That seems reasonable. So now you are in the middle of rehearsals with some of the biggest names in theatre in general, and Chicago theatre in particular. Namely Gene Weygandt, Barbara Robertson and E. Faye Butler. Have you been able to learn anything from their processes or, like most of us, have you learned nothing at all?

Oh, geez. I continue to learn every day - I don't mean to be all Pollyanna about it - but Gene and Barbara and E. Faye are such pros and "play" in rehearsal in such different ways. Gene doesn't just take the direction he's given, he chews it in his mouth, swishes it around a little and digests what works for him. Barbara comes in with a really strong idea of who these characters are and volleys back and forth with the director until she feels comfortable. And Faye continues to discover things and question things and challenge things. They're all so fearless. Mike Mahler and Gabe Ruiz are also blowing my mind.

Tell me about the show. What's the story? I have heard it is based on a Studs Terkel book, but he sounds like some weirdo porn star to me.

He could be! They wouldn't even have the change the title! Basically, it's an exploration of 26 people from different walks of life (a lot of people from the Midwest). They used a lot of the interviews from Studs' book, and then to update it from the previous drafts, Stephen, Gordon [Greenberg] (our director) and Lin Manuel Miranda (who wrote two of our new songs in the show) interviewed people in jobs that weren't covered in the books or at least drew from experiences of people they knew.

(Eric)Listen y'all...this is great so far. But let's get to the real nitty-gritty...what do you think of Halena Kays, and why is she so rotten?
(Andy)You better answer him, Emjoy, he looks furiously angry.

Halena is my favorite. Sorry.

I know. I can't stay mad at her either...even though she KNOWS what she did. So is there anything else on the horizon? How long will you be doing this book play?

Currently, no. They're selling tickets for this thing through May 8, but it's an "open ended run" so I guess this, for awhile. I'm hoping to sneak some Barrel of Monkeys stuff in there too.

Do you think you will stay in Chicago no matter what? Or will you go where the jobs take you?

Depends on the project. Chicago will be my home base and I don't really have an interest in relocating to NY or LA.

Omaha has a thriving dinner theatre and Haunted House scene. It's hot right now.

I HAVE always wanted to do one of those murder mystery things. Good point. And they have good steaks. Darn. Now I have some life choices to make.

Well, Emjoy, I think our interview is over, but would you like to wander into this abandoned laundromat with us?

I'd be delighted.

That's great, because we might be a little too "fringey" for this neighborhood.

Eric Roach, Anderson Lawfer

You can catch Emjoy Gavino in "Working" at the Broadway Playhouse starting February 15th.

Eric Roach and Anderson Lawfer are the founders of www.Reviewsyoucaniews.blogspot.com