Times are tough--no surprise there. And so it's maybe no surprise to people who know classical music to hear that the Northwest Sinfonietta is changing its program for this weekend (Friday in Seattle, Saturday in Tacoma) from cutting-edge contemporary to crowd-pleasing Mozart.
Don't get me wrong: I love Mozart and always have. And I'm the first one to say, if playing Mozart keeps an orchestra in business, then I'm all for it. I'll miss the clarinet concerto premiere that was to be, and Prokofiev's Symphony no. 1 (another fave of mine) but if you have to pick all-Mozart, this is definitely a great concert, with excellent soloists.
Here's what they're doing this weekend:

Rebecca Young, violin. Photo courtesy Northwest Sinfonietta.

"La Finta Giardiniera" Overture, K. 196
The Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219 with soloist Rebecca Young, the 18-year-old Key Bank Youth Concert winner
"Exsultate Jubilate" K. 165 with soprano Jessica Robins Milanese, who shone in Tacoma Opera's recent "The Barber of Seville", and
Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201

Soprano Jessica Robins Milanese. Photo courtesy Northwest Sinfonietta.

Says music director Christophe Chagnard: “This all-Mozart celebration focuses on a defining period in Mozart’s life (1773-75) when the child prodigy became the towering man who marked his century as its greatest musical genius."
And in case you needed any more encouragement, the Sinfonietta is selling tickets to both performances at $20 each with student prices at $10 (with a student ID).

Concerts are 7:30 p.m. on April 3 at Nordstrom Hall, Seattle, and 7:30 p.m. April 4 at the Rialto Theater, 310 S. 9th St., Tacoma.
Tickets: 253-591-5894, 800-291-7593, www.orchestraexperience.com

Two shows up now in Tacoma that are worth a long-ish look: a spring show, with two new artists, at Impromptu, and mind-bending photos at the UWT Iron Gallery.

Heather Cornelius and Mirka Hokkanen are the two newcomers at the Grand Impromptu Gallery. Hokkanen, from Finland by way of Illinois and Texas, creates delicate prints on unraveling linen, the meeting place of her self and her memories of childhood. Tiny gnomes converse (or fail to) on eloquently-leafed graphite branches; the whole thing reminds you of Enid Blyton illustrations with a sparse, melancholy twist.

Mirka Hokkanen, "The Meeting." Photo courtesy of the artist.

Cornelius, a local ceramicist, has installed a family of "Pear Women" in the gallery's front window. Lusciously bodied, with ripe-brown skin, slumped backs, saggy tummies and deeply etched privates, these pears are gorgeously clever and almost painterly, like a still life come to--well--life.

Heather Cornelius, "Trio of Pears." Photo courtesy of the artist.

Over at Iron Gallery (hidden inside the UWT through the door next to the bookstore), photographer Doris Jew Conrath teases your eye and mind with ordinary things in very warped space continua. Fascinated by mom-and-pop shopping strips that are dying off in the face of big-box retail, the SOTA teacher has done a series of photographs "unfolding" three-dimensional buildings in literally all their dimensions. What looks like a standard panorama shot of a strip mall becomes, on closer inspection, exactly the same store seen from front, side and back view, the three views seamlessly melded.

Doris Jew Conrath, "Riverton." Photo courtesy of the artist.

Conrath puts clues in her photos--over here the curb changes abruptly to pavement, over there the stairs are exact opposites of the ones on the other side. But the eye is still fooled, and the discrepancy between your internal knowledge of how space works and Conrath's visual documentary of how it doesn't keeps you enthralled, just trying to get your head around the dimensions.

Doris Jew Conrath, "Moolicious." Photo courtesy of the artist.

While the strip malls unfold (scarily) into a believable structure, highly patterned buildings like the "Moolicious" espresso truck and the house with builders' posters create a post-minimalist groove, quietly trippy.

Doris Jew Conrath, "Tyvek House." Photo courtesy of the artist.

Grand Impromptu Gallery is located at 608 South Fawcett St., Tacoma. Hours: 4-8 p.m. Thursdays, noon-8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2-6 p.m. Sundays. "It's a Spring Thing" shows through April 11.
253-572-9232, http://grandimpromptugallery.com

Iron Gallery is located at 1742 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. Hours: noon-4 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. "Unfolded Spaces" is on view through April. 253-571-7914

Dancers from Tacoma City Ballet's "Romance Gone Bad." Photo courtesy Tacoma City Ballet.

Tacoma City Ballet does “Romance Gone Bad”
A dozen funny ballet vignettes explore what happens when romance doesn’t quite work out, to the swinging accompaniment of the Northwest Sinfonietta Jazz Quartet and Hui Cox. 7:30 p.m. today, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. $20/$17.50. Theatre on the Square, 915 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org

Seeds “Dispersed” in PLU installation
Book artist Holly Senn and mixed-media sculptor Kyle Dillehay collaborate for a seed-pod-based installation at Pacific Lutheran University. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays from April 1-22. Artist reception 5-7 p.m. Wednesday. Ingram Hall, 8th Avenue Court South and 121st Street South, Tacoma. 253-535-7573, www.plu.edu/~artd

Photos that bend space at Iron Gallery
Get your head around photos by SOTA instructor Doris Jew Conrath, as she blends back, side and front views into a single building at the Iron Gallery, University of Washington. Noon-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Free. 1742 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. 253-571-7914.

Chandler O’Leary at the UPS library
“To the Letter,” the first Tacoma solo show for letterpress artist Chandler O’Leary, explores the connection between handwork and records of reality. 7:30 a.m.-2 a.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 7:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays from April 1-30; artist reception 4:30-7 p.m. Thursday. Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, North Warner and North 17th Streets, Tacoma. 253-879-3257, www.ups.edu

A documentary about two brothers serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq opens Friday at the Lakewood Towne Center.

What makes "Brothers at War" unique is that the film was made by a third brother, Jake Rademacher.

Shot both stateside and in Iraq the film covers dramatic action and portrays the effects of the brothers' service on their family and the friends they left behind.

The two Army brothers, Cpt. Isaac Rademacher and Sgt. Joseph Rademacher were both with the 1/504 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.

According to a synopsis from the film's website:

Jake embeds with four combat units in Iraq. Unprecedented access to U.S. and Iraqi combat units take him behind the camouflage curtain with secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border, into sniper "Hide Sites" in the Sunni Triangle, through raging machine gun battles with the Iraqi Army.  Ultimately, the film follows his brothers home where separations and life-threatening work ripple through their parents, siblings, wives and children.

Diane Kurzyna, "Another White Trash Wedding." Photo courtesy Diane Kurzyna.

The spring installations in the Woolworth Windows are finally up--well, most of them--and they're definitely worth a walk-by.

Down on Commerce St, Diane Kurzyna has created a floating Jewish wedding out of plastic bags. Kurzyna, a.k.a. Ruby Re-usable, is the queen of trash art, having created her life-size human figures out of plastic and bubble-wrap for Seattle exhibitions and Olympia street windows. With the delightfully titled "Another White Trash Wedding," though, Kurzyna combines figures with decoration and props for an entire wedding scene: bride, groom, cake, flower girl, the lot. Looking oddly solid, the sculpted plastic bags are white for the bride, black for the groom, both of whom float on chairs from the ceiling in a nod to the Jewish tradition of lifting the couple. Faceless, with postures that don't connect to anything, they hang as if in a dream. The blue plastic flower-girl behind them is rather gruesome, like a strangled baby, with crime-scene tape dangling from a crown-of-thorn garland. But the wedding cake is great, adorned with plastic detritus (forks, lids, bread tags) in a symmetrical juxtaposition of beauty and waste.

Up the hill at Broadway and South 9th Street begins a series of giant black-and-white prints. They're the brainchild of last month's King's Books Wayzgoose, an annual festival of letterpress folks: Local artists designed woodcuts, linocuts or whatever, then drove a small steamroller over the inked up cut to make a series of enormous prints. Lots of fun to watch, and even better that the results get a little longer exposure in the Windows. One of the best is the Tacoma tribute by Beautiful Angle (Tom Llewellyn and Lance Kagey)--our fair city as a tube of toothpaste oozing black goodness. (Pardon my shot of the reflected cityscape.)

Tacoma's pioneer lady Thea Foss gets a tribute, too, from Jessica Spring and Chandler O'Leary in a well-designed fantasy of Foss as a tugboat figurehead, and her famous quote ("There are so many things left to do") enscrolled in a mermaid typeface.

Local cartoonists' league CLAW gets their manic insignia (a skull in a fez, with crossed pencils) in backwards, while Chris Sharp scunges up a picture-postcard image of Mt. Rainier with--what else?--inkblots.

In the middle window, Portland artist Mark Clarson aim to create a visual narrative with photo-novella-style characters, but in fact the three images (two blonde sluts and a plaid-shirted lout) tell a boring tale with no subtleties.

Most intriguing right now is Chandler O'Leary, who's hard at work painting a mural taking up the longest window space of them all (walls, ceiling and floor.) Here's a snap I took of her yesterday:

She's creating gigantic, Amazonian nudes on a background of patterns ranging from mountains to leaves to wallpaper. Muscled and lean, these women are both domestic and environmental goddesses. If you pass by, stop and say hi; it must feel a bit exposed painting your heart out in a shop window.

The Woolworth Windows, run by Tacoma Contemporary, are on view 24/7 along Broadway near South 11th Street, and on Commerce and South 11th Streets, Tacoma. www.tacomacontemporary.org

Up Country duo Kevin Neil and Ray Mann. Photo courtesy Tacoma Symphony.

The folks at Tacoma Symphony are expanding their POPS series. In January it was Andrew Lloyd Webber faves, and this weekend they're heading into Country, with a capital C. The orchestra will back the duo Up Country (guitarist Kevin Neil and bassist/drummer Ray Mann) in "Into the West," a program of greatest country hits: “Don’t Fence Me In,” “Hey, Good Lookin’," “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You),” “Ragtime Cowboy Joe,” “The Tennessee Waltz,” “Ghost Riders in the Sky" and more.

If you're thinking that symphonic and country don't exactly go together, think again. Composers from Copland to Rossini have either deliberately written for or been poached by the genre. On the TSO program for Sunday will be Rossini's "Overture to William Tell" (theme for "The Lone Ranger"), John Williams' "The Cowboys," Ferd Grofe's "On the Trail" from the Grand Canyon Suite, and the "Hoedown" from Copland's "Rodeo."

It's not only a first for the orchestra, it's a first for Up Country too. The duo has played gigs for 15 years on cruise ships up and down the Northwest, singing harmony and reciting cowboy poetry--but never before with a symphony orchestra. Neil has won awards for his song-writing, and has 35-year career spanning many genres. Mann has performed in many countries (including for Queen Elizabeth II and Presidents Carter and Reagan) and collaborated with artists like Larry Cordle, Chuck Seals, Bobby Braddock, and Otis Blackwell.

And just in case you're wondering how one guy can play bass and drums simultaneously, here's a quote from Mann:
"I was a drummer and a bassist before I got run over by a diesel truck 35 years ago and lost the use of my right arm for two years. During that time I learned to play electric bass with only my left hand (hammering-on.) After physical therapy, I got the arm back and started playing bass and drums at the same time. Sort of a lemons-to-lemonade story."

"Into the West" takes place 2:30 p.m. March 29 in the Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. Tickets $10 to $75. 253-272-7264, www.tacomasymphony.org.

Mark Larson with his painting, "Psyche, Seeking." Photo courtesy Robert Stocker.

Tacoma artist Mark Larson has been selected to have his work included in the second volume of "Best of America--Oil Painting," a book to be released this summer by Kennedy Publishing. Larson is one of 200 painters selected by jury to be included in the book.
Larson, who until recently owned the Winged Lion Studio in the Dome District, is currently represented by the Robert Daniel Gallery in Tacoma where he will have a solo show later this year. Describing his work as "visionary realism," Larson has shown nationally and internationally, including at the Florence Biennale.

Larson's work can be seen at The Robert Daniel Gallery, 2501 Fawcett Ave., Tacoma. 253-227-1407, www.therobertdanielgallery.com

Northwest Repertory Singers will jazz it up Saturday
The Northwest Repertory Singers will swing Saturday in a jazz program alongside the Kareem Kandi Quartet; also includes past choir favorites such as “Elijah Rock”; 7:30 p.m. $18 general, $15 seniors and students, free for 12 and younger; Mason United Methodist Church, 2710 N. Madison St., Tacoma; 253-572-4831, www.nwrs.org.

100th Monkey will do haiku,
Tacoma Little Theatre party
For the March 100th Monkey arts community party, Luke Smiraldo has composed 24 haiku, one for each hour of Tacoma’s day; haiku T-shirts will be auctioned; music by Matt Eklund; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; free (bring a dish/drink); Tacoma Little Theatre, 210 N. I St., Tacoma; www.100thmonkeytacoma.com.

Kittredge Gallery gets political show featuring Mexican prints
Sixty years of political printmaking in Mexico come together for this exhibition by Arturo Garcia Bustos and Rina Lazo at Kittredge Gallery; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, noon-5 p.m. Saturdays; artist reception 5 p.m. April 8; Kittredge Hall, University of Puget Sound, North 15th and North Lawrence streets, Tacoma; 253-879-2806, www.ups.edu/kittredge.xml.

Robert Daniel Gallery offers
‘Signs of Spring’ installation
Next Thursday’s opening includes the 50-piece installation “Bounce” by Ted Crawford, plus 18 Northwest artists in “Signs of Spring”; hors d’oeuvres and live music; from 5 p.m. Thursday; free; 2501 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma; 253-227-1407, www.therobertdanielgallery.com.

Go Pierce College: the Farwest Vocal Jazz Ensemble there has just been named Best Collegiate Vocal Jazz Group in the country by Down Beat Magazine, a national monthly jazz publication.

From the press release:
"The contest was open to all collegiate level vocal jazz groups and selection was based on recorded songs submitted to the magazine last fall. Pierce College’s Farwest Jazz Ensemble submitted four songs featured on its most recent CD, "Groovin’ Hard," which was recorded on the Pierce College Fort Steilacoom campus last spring."

“It is a nice bit of recognition for the Farwest Vocal Jazz Ensemble,” said director Kelly Kunz. “Our program has a longstanding tradition of excellence and this is a great honor for us.”

Find more information plus free audio and video of the group here.

Just when you thought you couldn't afford any more classical music tickets for a loooong time, the Rainier Family Opera steps up to the pitch again for three evenings of opera that's not only affordable but enjoyable for kids, families and non-opera-goers as well.

The Rainier Opera started out a year ago as a way of giving local opera singers more stage time plus making opera accessible for both their young families and everyone else's. Since then, the RO has staged several concerts of concertized, semi-costumed arias and scenes, but they don't dumb it down. There are opera faves like the Habanera from "Carmen," and then there's opera you've probably never heard before, like Aaron Copland's "The Tender Land."

Huh?

Yep, in the early 1950s Copland was inspired to break away from instrumental music by those aching, bleak-eyed photos of Walker Evans of rural America in the Depression. He wrote "A Tender Land" for NBC TV, a musical portrait of the tough life farming in the Midwest farming during the 1930s. Says RO publicist Dana Kehr: "With themes of harvest, work, love, trust and family, this opera addresses many topics relevant to our modern circumstances."

Six members of RO will sing scenes from "A Tender Land" tomorrow night in the Tacoma Public Library Main Branch's Olympic Room. The free concert is part of a series of events surrounding the Tacoma Reads program, which this time involves Barbara Kingsolver's excellent eating-and-farming-locally book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." The arias will be rounded out by other American songs about food, farms and animals.

Then, on Friday in Tacoma and Saturday in Puyallup, the RO singers will include the Copland in a concert of music from "Carmen" and "La Boheme," two of the best-loved and most romantic operas ever. Soloists include performers seen regularly in Tacoma Opera and other local companies: Nathan Barnes, Ryan Christopher Bede, Grant Drees, Erin Guinup, Katie Hochman, Dave Holden, Laura Loge, Holly Kara Mesarch, Marci Morrell, Greg Sojka, Ainsley Soutiere, Amelia Stagno, and Denes van Parys, plus children from the Tahoma Choirs. There'll also be educational explanations of the operas.

Rainer Opera performance times:

7 p.m. Tuesday: "The Tender Land and Other Songs of Farms and Food." Free. Olympic Room, Main Library
1102 Tacoma Avenue South, Tacoma.
7 p.m. Friday: "Selections from "Carmen" and others..." Suggested donation $10, $25 families. First Lutheran Church, 524 S. I St, Tacoma.
7 p.m. Saturday: "Selections from "Carmen" and others..." Suggested donation $10, $25 families. Puyallup High School auditorium,105 7th St SW, Puyallup.
Information: rainierfamilyopera.blogspot.com/

Claudia Gorbman, a professor of film studies at the University of Washington Tacoma, has won the university’s Distinguished Research Award. The award goes to a faculty member “who has achieved a record of notable scholarship or creative activity,” according to the university.

Gorbman has been on the faculty of UWT since its founding in 1990. She teaches film in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program. She was chosen by a committee of her peers.

An expert in the field of academic research of music in film, she is the author of “Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music,” published in 1987.

Canadian Brass. Photo courtesy Tacoma Philharmonic.

Canadian Brass at the Pantages
After 10 years, the world-famous brass quintet heard equally in concert halls and on The Tonight Show is back in Tacoma. 7:30 p.m. March 19, pre-concert conversation 6:30 p.m. $32.50-$62.50 (discounts available.) Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-272-0809, 253-591-5894, www.tacomaphilharmonic.org

Cellist Joshua Roman with the Northwest Sinfonietta
Cello star Joshua Roman plays solo with the Northwest Sinfonietta in Taverner’s achingly beautiful “The Protecting Veil.” 7:30 p.m. March 14. $28-$45, dinner/concert $55. Rialto Theater, 310 S. 9th St., Tacoma. 253- 591-5894, www.orchestraexperience.com

Finisterra Trio goes to Paris and Prague
In their Second City Chamber Series concert, the local Finisterra Trio plays Faure, (((acute on e))) Dvorak, (((circonflex on r, acute on a))) and Martinu’s (((circle on u))) witty jazz ballet “La Revue de Cuisine.” 7:30 p.m. March 13. $35/$30/$15. Annie Wright Hall, 827 N. Tacoma Ave., Tacoma. 253-572-TUNE, www.scchamberseries.org

Lance Kagey’s calculations at Fulcrum Gallery
Letterpress artist Lance Kagey (one half of Beautiful Angle) goes solo at Fulcrum: numbers as art in typeface and ink. 6-9 p.m. third Thursdays, 12-6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through April 19. Artist talk 6 p.m. Mar. 29. Free. 1308 MLK Jr. Way, Tacoma. 253-250-0520. fulcrum.oliverdoriss.com

...Tacomans love their roads. You know, they're necessary things and do the job, but boy, they could sure use a lot of improvement.

ArtWalk is 20 years old this year. But instead of getting bigger over the years, the free-museum-and-gallery happy hour from 5-8 p.m. on Third Thursdays is dwindling. Galleries get maybe 20 or 30 people, as opposed to the 100 that ArtWalk originators like Rick Gottas remember. It's a far cry from the 150-300 that get through an average Seattle or Portland gallery on First Thursdays, or the 10,000 that attend Olympia's bi-annual ArtWalk. It's also, might I say, a far cry from the 900 that flock to the Museum of Glass on Third Thursdays.

There are a number of issues here. One is the museums hogging the crowds. Another is lack of cooperation and joint publicity between galleries. A third is that galleries have decided they get their own crowds, thanks, and are moving openings to alternative days. A fourth is Tacoma's geography--ArtWalk venues are just too far to walk, unless you're training for the marathon. The result is that, apart from a select few places, downtown Tacoma has been pretty dead lately on ArtWalk nights.

What's the solution? Do you even care? Read my story coming up on Sunday in Soundlife, and see if you come up with an opinion or great idea. There'll be a hot-button poll. Check it out.

Hana Lass as Juliet, John Farage as Friar Laurence and Michael Place as Romeo in last year's Wooden O production of "Romeo and Juliet". (Seattle Shakespeare Company)

Summer seems so far away right now but it's time to get out your calendars and turn to July. That's when Shakespeare in the park returns.

Seattle Shakespeare Company announced today its Wooden O outdoor summer play schedule. Most of the free shows for "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Richard III" are in Seattle/King County but you'll be able to catch "Shrew" in Federal Way and Bonney Lake.

Here's how the company describes "Shrew":
 

With a sharp tongue and a volcanic temper, the headstrong Kate bows down to no man.  But then a fortune-hunting suitor named Petruchio swaggers into town with a mischievous plan to reach her guarded heart.  Through bickering and brawling their comic courtship is a no-holds-barred battle of the sexes that results in a love and understanding that neither one imagined. 

Last year over 10,000 Bard lovers attended the summer shows.

The full performance schedule for "Richard III" and "The Taming of the Shrew" can be found at the company's website but here's the info for our local free "Shrew" shows:

Federal Way: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday July 22 at Steel Lake Park

Bonney Lake: 2 p.m., Sunday Aug. 2 at Allen York Park

Ruins of Inch Abbey in the countryside near Downpatrick, Northern Ireland (AP Photo/Audrey Woods)

"Step we gaily, on we go, heel for heel and toe for toe; Arm in arm and roll and roll..."

Er--sorry, got a bit carried away there. Okay, folks, who's for the Ceili this Sunday? Come on: if you love Celtic music, or Irish dance, or even just linking arms with total strangers, this one's for you. The Second Annual Tacoma Ceili (say it, kay-lee) will be on from 2-5 p.m. this Sunday, March 15, at Commencement Bay Coffee. What's a Ceili? A kind of Irish barn dance, if you like, where anyone at all can join in with stripping the willow, climbing the walls of Limerick and so on, following the instructions of a caller while a live band plays jigs and reels.

This year, stellar Celtic band Mooncoyne is back, and Melissa Curtis is leading the Ceili. Her students from Evolution Dance Troupe will kick things off with a performance, and then it's a free-for-all.

Do you have to know the dances? Absolutely not, says Curtis: "A ceili is a traditional Irish gathering for fun, fellowship, and laughs where basic irish dances are accompanied by live irish music. Traditional ceili dances were enjoyed at house parties and corner road gatherings in the rural countrysides. The Bonfire Dance, Haymakers Jig, Siege of Ennis, Waves of Tory, etc are very easy to learn and the most difficult part is knowing your right from your left. Many of these traditional country folk dances have a follow-the-leader pattern that new dancers can pick up on the first attempt."

I'll vouch for that--I went last year, and apart from a wedding in Scotland, I'd never been to a Ceili before. I had a blast. If you can follow instructions, you can do these dances, and it's heaps of fun (and great exercise.) Bring your kids or your parents, and chill out with a latte when the reels get too hot.

2-5 p.m. March 15. $5, free for four-and-under. Commencement Bay Coffee, 2354 S. Jefferson Ave., Tacoma. Information: 253-495-4423
www.evolutiondance.com

In this 1992 file photo, Studs Terkel takes a bus home after a stint at the WFMT studio (Chicago Tribune, Chris Walker)

Last year on Halloween, Studs Terkel died. The 96-year-old had been a radio broadcaster, radio play actor and jazz aficionado throughout the '40s and '50s. But above all, Louis "Studs" Terkel was one of the most prolific oral historians of 20th-century America. Stumbling into interviewing by chance for his radio show "The Studs Terkel Program," Terkel listened to thousands of ordinary Americans, documenting their histories of the Great Depression, World War II, employment, race relations and the American dream. He compiled these interviews into a succession of prize-winning books from the 1960s through to a posthumous publication last November.

Why think about Studs Terkel now? Because this week Stadium High School is mounting a production of the Broadway musical "Working." It's based on his 1974 book of the same title, whose subtitle--"People Talk About What They Do All Day and Why They Do What They Do"--pretty much sums it up. Terkel interviews regular working-class folks--waitresses, baseball players, managers, musicians--and the 1978 musical wraps them up into a working day, from morning to late shift. Along the way are songs by Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor.

"Working" is from a working era so different it might be another planet, a time when typewriters sat on desks and cell phones hadn't been invented. But, says Stadium's director Suzy Wilhoft, the show still pulls a meaningful punch.

"I love the humanity of it, the voices of real people, the glimpse into 20-plus lives and jobs and the message that we are individuals inside of our work titles," says Wilhoft, who has directed the musical three times now. "It has great passion, humor, and power."

It's also highly relevant to today's world of increasing unemployment, and people trying to make sense of whatever jobs they can get.

The Stadium production features a stellar cast, including students like Olivia Seward and Amanda Jones who've starred in community theater and poetry competitions, and a musical director/pianist who's toured nationally with "Mamma Mia", 1996 Stadium alum Gabriel McPherson.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. March 12 and 13, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. March 14. Tickets $8/$5 at the door. Stadium High School auditorium, 111 N. E St., Tacoma. 253-571-3100, www.stadiumtigers.org