La Jolla Playhouse artistic director bowing out with ‘Working Girl’

A musical adaptation of the 1988 film “Working Girl” opens this month at La Jolla Playhouse, and the show is significant for more than its world-premiere status.

The production turns the cinematic romantic comedy/drama starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford into a “sharp and hilarious” staging with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper.

Perhaps most significant to the playhouse is that it is longtime Artistic Director Christopher Ashley’s final show before he joins New York’s Roundabout Theatre Company, one of the nation’s largest and most prestigious nonprofit theaters. His impending exit was announced in September 2024.

Ashley’s departure Dec. 31 will end his 18-year tenure at the playhouse, during which time he has directed two dozen productions, overseen development of 50 world premieres and shepherded 20 shows to Broadway, among them the Tony Award-winning musicals “Memphis” and “The Outsiders,” as well as “Come From Away,” for which he won the 2017 Tony for Best Director.

Ashley also spearheaded creation of the playhouse’s popular Without Walls (WOW) program of immersive and site-inspired work, including the annual WOW Festival.

At Roundabout, his responsibilities will include overseeing programming for three Broadway theaters and a pair of off-Broadway venues.

“Working Girl” is set for previews Tuesday, Oct. 28, through Saturday, Nov. 1, and regular performances through Sunday, Dec. 7, in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

The story follows a working-class woman who dreams of moving up the corporate ladder. But when one of her ideas is stolen, she creates a plan to take it back.

Ashley told the La Jolla Light earlier this year that “Working Girl” is a “great way to go out” and that the show holds contemporary relevance, though the movie came out 37 years ago.

“It makes you think … about how much has changed since the ’80s in terms of how the workplace works and what our ideas are about women and men and what they’re allowed to do, and also the many ways in which nothing has changed at all in the last 40 years,” Ashley said.

“Working Girl” comes on the heels of two other Ashley directorial ventures for the playhouse this year, “3 Summers of Lincoln” and “The Heart.”

Included in the cast of more than 20 members are Joanna “Jojo” Levesque, who plays main character Tess (portrayed by Griffith in the film), and Ashley Blanchet, who plays Cyn, Tess’ best friend (played by Joan Cusack in the movie).

Blanchet said she has seen the movie a few times but that she avoided studying it too intensely while preparing for the new show.

“I really am a feminist and I believe in the equality of the sexes, so something that has been really important for me working on this piece is to be able to tell the story that women have their right to stay at home and be mothers and that that is just as powerful and as much of a success story as being a working girl and being in an office,” Blanchet told the Light.

“In the ‘80s, [there] was sort of more of a need to say ‘Hey, we need people to have this opportunity,’ and I think today’s feminist would say ‘We want to make sure everybody understands that to be a feminist means you have the choice to live your life any way you want.’”

Blanchet noted that “Working Girl” brings a conclusion to Ashley’s time at La Jolla Playhouse and said he will leave a “beautiful legacy.”

“My Broadway debut was ‘Memphis,’ a show that he directed,” she said. “So it is very full circle for me. I feel very honored to be a part of his last show here at La Jolla Playhouse.”

For the full show schedule, tickets and more information, visit lajollaplayhouse.org/show/working-girl.