9 to 5

Based on the film, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and libretto by Patricia Resnick, the story follows three secretaries who, sick and tired of their boss's sexism and totally inappropriate behaviour, decide to 'kidnap' him and run the company themselves with, of course, brilliant results!

The stage was set open with a static wall mural depicting an office setting with central elevator. It was clear and crisp and the space certain benefited from not having rostrum across the back of the theatre which has almost become a staple for Marianettes productions.

I was really happy to see that the theatre was full and I’m told the Saturday nights performance is equally as brimming with good houses across the week, which is excellent news for the society.

Elspeth Renfrew’s production was well thought out in terms of direction and entrances and exits and the mechanics of the show worked well.  The cast seemed comfortable in knowing what they were doing within the acting aspects of the show.  Costumes were time appropriate and of good quality. The office scenes with the cast seemingly working away was excellent in terms of background acting and I thought the details in this were spot on. My only slight issue was the couch scene where the girls get stoned was set far stage right and was difficult to see from the opposite side of the auditorium.

Lighting by Mary-Beth Sewell was, I thought excellent. There was some new tech used in the form of moving focus lights and a return of some moving head lights and I thought they were cleverly used. Intelligent lighting can either look amazing or mis-understood when plotting, but on this occasion really good. I particularly liked the colour themes and sectioning used for the 3 leading ladies when all stood together. A lovely touch. 

Stage Manager Steve Ward and team ensured that the scene changes were carried out quietly and smoothly with no impact on the action, which is as it should be.

Sound was an issue on the night I attended. Mainly from within the band as the MD’s instruments seemed a lot louder than any others . I should add that it might be the case that they were not going through the sound board and so out of the operatives control. It did mean though that the sound was unbalanced and sometimes overtook the actors mic levels coming through front of house. I also felt the cast would have benefited from some fold-back from the band which may have helped glued things together a bit more. 

Choreography was by Kirsty Dilley. My main issue with choreography in amateur theatre is the tendency to think you have to use everyone in ‘company’ numbers. This means you tend to put your best dancers at the front with less comfortable dancers at the back. The issue this presents is that  the less comfortable dancers tend to pull the focus from anything else that might be happening. Unfortunately, whilst the routines were good, the male dancers appeared to be less secure in what they should be doing and when they should be doing it. In my opinion, I would ask myself are they (the men on this occasion) integral to the plot and do they really need to be there in the choreography. It distracted from some very good dancers - Tara Hutchings, Jasmine Turner and Cheryl Wilson who were excellent, to name just a few. It is something worth thinking about going forward. Scale the dancers down to those who are comfortable and competent and have a tighter more slick routine that the good choreography deserved. I think those who are less comfortable would thank any production team for that slack being given.

Musical Direction was by Chris Phelps and unfortunately I feel the accompaniment ultimately let this production down.  The band, positioned down the side of the raked seating  had odd instrumentation choices and seemed out of time with each other for the most part and consequently out of time with the cast – who were all working extremely hard to dictate where they were in any particular number. The problem I feel was that Chris seemed very busy swapping in and out of instrument changes (playing 4 instruments across 2 scores) that no clear beat was being given to his band members and more importantly his cast members. When you have budget constraints which means you have to reduce the number of players, the musical director has to look the breadth of the score  and choose the instruments you want to book carefully. If he or she are going to play in the ensemble, play from the keys and not from instruments such as a slide guitar and violin which adds little security to the numbers as you can’t dictate tempos etc. I felt that the cast knew what they had to sing, but were just not cued in appropriately especially coming out of vamps etc. 

The electronic drumming sadly didn’t provide a rock solid point of reference for the fellow cast or band members partly due to the volume being very low and unbalanced but again this leads back to not being led from the front with a visible strong downbeat from Chris. Unfortunately there also seemed to be an issue with trumpet player as he seemed to be struggling to hit the notes written in his pad or with his embouchure, which due to the timbre of the instrument, sticks out like a sore thumb and becomes distracting.

The three leading ladies; Nicola Carter, Rosie Layton and Tara Dean played the roles of Violet, Doralee and Judy respectively.

Nicola is always lovely to watch on stage and this was no exception. From the exasperated expressions towards Hart and the sheer initial dislike for Doralee and everything in between was excellently executed. Then you add on top an lovely singing voice – you’re onto a winner. 

Rosie Layton probably had the most difficult of jobs, pulling off the deep south, iconic accent which she did with success. Her wig and make up were equally iconic and exactly as they should have been and again her singing was excellent. There were some issues with her microphone during some of her lib however, and I struggled to hear what was being said in places but that aside, I thought Rosie (a great character actor) did Doralee justice. 

Tara Dean played Judy the tearful new employee of ‘Consolidated’ with good characterisation. Her singing voice was her top trump however and my goodness can that girl belt. Her vocal ability is superb and Tara should be congratulated on how her numbers came across.

Kevin Long played the sleazy sex pest C.E.O. - Frankin J Hart with great physicality and comedic timing. His singing was good and during the curtain call, had some ‘boo’s’ which I would say is a job well done for a character such as Hart.

Roz Keith was superbly played  by Charlotte Prosser. I spoke with her briefly after the show and she told me this was the first time on stage since leaving school (which can’t be that many years) but my point is, she came across as a seasoned, self assured performer with a natural penchant for comedy. Her number Heart to Hart was my favourite and was very funny and all involved in that number should be commended.

There were some great ensemble acting too, in particular Cheryl Wilson as Missy , Lewis Cain as Josh and Marion Barron as Margaret. It’s really encouraging to see current and future leading actors and actresses in the ensemble. Jasmine Turner as Maria and Charles Mills as Officer showed how to act naturally throughout even with very few lines to deliver. If you watched Jasmine in the office scenes, she had her own little story line going on which was completely derived from the lines she was given and was lovely to watch. Subtlety and class.

Well done to all involved.

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