9 TO 5

After a workshop in New York ‘9 TO 5' had its first brief outing when it was presented to the industry in 2007. It then went to Los Angeles for a short time in 2008 and to Broadway in 2009. It had a UK tour in 2012 and 2013. It received mixed reviews such as ‘a feminist revenge story’, an ‘overinflated whoopee cushion’ and ‘goofily entertaining’. Fortunately attitudes have changed somewhat but the sexist and discriminatory remarks are sadly still present 40 years later.

In the role of the lecherous and domineering Franklin Hart Junior, Mark was extremely good – he does play the ‘baddies’ very well - and with his stage presence he was the epitome of a man in a position of authority, who uses his power either to subjugate those he sees as cannon fodder, or as bait for someone special for whom he has other plans.

As the woman who had caught his eye, Doralee , Beth was terrific. I have never heard her sing as she did in that part and she had clearly worked hard on her accent – it never faltered. Her presentation of the simple, good hearted country girl, who with her co-workers finally got the better of Hart, was just charming.

The other two ladies, Rosalind Robins who played Violet Newstead, and Susana Colunga as Judy Bernly also gave excellent performances in both their singing and acting. Rosalind playing the more mature and worldly office worker, kind to Susana and constantly overlooked for promotion by Franklin, and Susana the timid new girl who needed help and reassurance on her first day at the office. The ladies worked together superbly on stage and the cannabis inspired fantasy scene was especially entertaining, as was the farcical hospital scene. Timing was spot on.

Sophie Coad was very good as Roz whose fantasies and obsession regarding her boss, culminate in an unexpectedly sexy rendition of ‘Hart to Hart’ and Matt Gardener made a winning younger Joe who has romantic feelings for Violet. He is accomplished in the three aspects of a good performer – he acts, sings and dances and all apparently effortlessly.

Playing the other two men in the three girls' lives, Graham made a lovely laid back Dwayne and Alex Haben did well as Dick the husband who came crawling back to his wife when things didn’t work out for him.

There was a multitude of other named characters and all of them added to the overall presentation of the show. In the cameo role of Tinsworthy the CEO, Brian Higgs was convincing and in his white suit very much looked the part too.

Hannah Dare’s choreography was good as were the properties, furniture and costumes, although one or two of the costumes were too long in either the trousers or sleeves and Matt’s jacket in the tap dance was much too big for his slight frame.

The set was very good, great that you were able to design and build it in-house and the lighting plot was also well designed. Sound was consistent throughout and the scene changes/settings were carried out most efficiently by the cast and back stage crew, and were co-ordinated beautifully.

James Marr did a splendid job with his eight piece orchestra. The music was balanced and the musicians accompanied rather than overpowered the vocalists.

The opening number was full of energy and the finales of both acts were rousing – it was difficult not to sing along with the cast! The large company numbers were strongly sung and their choreography was well rehearsed.

As co-stage directors Beth and Amanda presented a coherent production that had good pace and showed no indication that it was not one person’s vision of  the musical ‘9 TO 5’. The production team together staged a memorable show.

Your programme is set out for ease of reading and is nicely put together.

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