Terkel's moving stories continue to strike chords at Steel Beam

The stories told in Studs Terkel's "Working" are 35 years old now, frozen-in-time thoughts of men and women making their livings in jobs both menial and meaningful.

You have to wonder: Can vignettes featuring telephone operators still resonate in an age of voice mail?

Early on in Steel Beam's staging of the musical based on the book, I might have said no. After all, women sing of their lives as hookers, housewives, socialites and grocery store clerks. And while the roles are based on real people, in 2009 the choices feel dated and sexist.

Quickly, though, the various monologues and poignant songs begin to strike familiar chords. Yes, much has changed since the 1970s. But when it comes to the dreams and disappointments of the American worker, much has stayed the same.

It's hard not to see yourself - or someone you know - reflected in the words of a longtime teacher who aches for the order her classes once offered or in the mill worker who knows she will "work the mill as long as I am able and never meet the man whose name is on the label."

Not all the workers in the show are unhappy with their lives. A mason expresses pride in the staying power of his work, and a grocery store clerk practically bubbles over with enthusiasm about her days.

Still, the most heartfelt songs and stories come from those conflicted by the directions their lives have taken. Especially poignant is the Act 1 closer "If I Could've Been." The ensemble comes together to lament how real life - marriage, kids and so much more - can derail dreams of doing something "big," something special. Overlapping voices wonder where they might have gone, what they might have done, had they shaped their destinies in the ways they once intended.

A few of the segments stand out. With her strong clear voice, Pascale M. Trouillot creates quite a presence as a fourth-generation cleaning woman sure her daughter won't follow in her footsteps. Likewise, Mercy Pattawi puts powerful vocals behind the song of a housewife beaten down by what the world thinks of her yet still committed to doing right by her family.

Luke Donia offers up a tender Spanish ode to one character's migrant worker roots. And Terry A. Christianson is stirring as the blue-collar father who wants more out of life for his son.

The songs and stories come together on a nearly bare stage, brightened only by panels covered with images of the nation's workers. Anything more would likely detract from the power of the words.

In an age when so many are out of work, and those left behind wonder what the future holds, the meaning and messages of "Working" still have the power to move.