9 to 5

Having never seen the musical 9-5 before, or indeed the 1980 film the musical is based on, I was very interested to come along and see what it was all about. As the curtains opened the audience had their first introduction to the set, in my experience the sets at Yeovil have always been quite impressive and 9 to 5 was no different. A stunning set that also seemed easy and straight forward to adapt for the different scenes, which happened swiftly and effortlessly, particularly impressive was the middle flat which was removed and changed to make a bedroom and an office. Also it was clever how the bookshelf turned to become part of the bedroom scene. It always seems sensible, where possible, to have the actors bringing on set pieces to speed up the set changes and this worked very well here, particularly when creating the office pool. After all, who could not like a set that has a giant Dolly Parton hovering over it!

The costumes were very good and fitted the eighties theme well, although Doralee’s wig was rather obviously just that. The make-up wasn’t glaringly obvious which shows what a great job Judy Bradford must have done.

Lighting by Danny Norris Technicians was incredibly good and really helped to highlight the quality of the set. The sound production was very good and the first at the Octagon Theatre, as a NODA rep, which didn’t have any quality issues at all, so very well done to David Riley and his team.

As shown by Jesus Christ Superstar and White Christmas, YAOS know how to do choreography and this production was no different. The choreography, presumably by Martyn Knight although this is not made clear in the programme, was incredibly good and varied throughout the whole show. It was fast paced, vibrant, fun and worked well within the production. The songs '9 to 5', 'Here for You' and the 3 revenge songs were clear highlights. If it was indeed Martyn that did the choreography, then his 28 years of experience were clearly visible.

The singers were all very accomplished and there were some lovely harmonies throughout the evening. The orchestra under the guidance of Lynne Merrifield accompanied the singers well, they maintained the perfect volume never drowning out the voices, but always clearly audible.

The show tells the story of Doralee (Sarah Symcox), Judy (Jennifer Holland-Brewer) and Violet (Karen Pankhurst) join forces to teach their employer Hart (Jay Westaway) a lesson in humility and equal rights. The three leads were fantastic and bounced off each other really well giving a very believable performance as friends. Jennifer clearly has a great understanding of comic timing and her portrayal of Judy was very funny indeed. Karen as Violet had some lovely songs which highlighted her strong singing voice and she partnered Alan Ferguson (as Joe) for a beautiful rendition of ‘Let Love Grow’, and what a set of pins! Sarah as Doralee probably had the hardest job having to maintain a strong southern accent throughout the show, which she did exceptionally well and showed that she also had a great singing voice too. As mentioned this play focuses on the three main women, but their portrayal would not have been believable without a strong supporting cast. Every single person on that stage seemed committed and were in character 100% of the time. It was clear that everyone was having fun and this came out in their performances.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide comments on every member of the supporting cast but, special mention must go to Vini Lloyd (as Josh Newstead) Vini as he stepped into an adult production with such ease and he did not seem at all daunted by the opportunity. The three girls hatred is directed towards Franklin Hart Junior (Jay Westaway) who was outstanding and played the role suitably over the top and with definitely the right amount of humour.  It was always a pleasure when he was on the stage and it’s lovely to see an actor get booed at the end of a production, as this shows how believable he was. So well done Jay. However, the stand out performance on the night has to be Liz Stallard as Roz Keith, certainly show stealing!

Overall this was another thoroughly enjoyable performance from YAOS, it is always a pleasure coming to see your shows as they are always of a very high standard. Well done, and here's looking forward to Top Hat.

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