9 to 5

9 to 5: The Musical could hardly fail with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and it has understandably won many prestigious awards in its long history, starting as a film in 1980 and then turning into a stage musical in 2008.

The Stagers produced an excellent A5 programme, cleverly designed to look like an office handbook.  Instead of biogs, the cast and crew notes were imaginatively described as Personnel Files with interesting little thumbnail sketches of each with their photos, many of whom have been involved with Grayshott Stagers for a long time but equally a large number of newcomers.  I loved the notes with a guide to the 1979 office – something I remember very well and which evoked many happy memories of my career in offices in the 1960s and 1970s – and beyond!

The set was simple and easily moved around by cast and crew who were very efficient and slick.  Old fashioned typewriters, telephones and a magnificent xerox machine gave an authentic feel to the office scene.  Three large ‘box’ flats on castors came and went, doubling up as office selves, the Ladies’ room, Hart’s bedroom.

The 1970s costumes were authentic and together with a mixture of wigs gave a real sense of the period.  There were a number of very quick changes which were impressive.  Well done Chris Brennan, Pauline Dowsett and their team who would have had their work cut out with such a large cast.

The production opened with an image of Dolly Parton herself projected above the stage, introducing the play. The story revolves around the lives of several women working in the typing pool of a small industrial company, Consolidated Industries, at the end of the 1970s, under the creepy and lecherous President Franklin Hart Jr, who it turns out is also a petty crook, embezzling the company’s funds.  The bustle of a busy office was a fitting start and the cast kept up the pace throughout the production.  The three main female characters are Violet, a widow and long-standing Supervisor hoping for promotion; Doralee, Mr Hart’s secretary who resists his unwelcome overtures; and Judy, the newcomer who admits to having absolutely no office experience whatsoever but needs the job having recently been divorced.  Then there is Roz, who secretly lusts after Hart and enjoys telling tales about what the rest of the staff are up to in order to curry favour.

The three main players, Violet (Susie Gow), Doralee (Lizzie Hales) and Judy (Clemency Bray) all had strong singing voices.  I found Clemency’s voice particularly pleasing.  They made a very strong trio and worked well together.  But there wasn’t a weak link.  The obnoxious Franklin Hart (Nigel Dams), star struck but thwarted Roz (Rachel Perkins), pathetic ex husband of Judy (Dick Bernly), saviour of the day Russell Tinsworthy (Martin Sims) - it’s difficult to single out anyone in particular.  The casting was impeccable. 

Violet, Doralee and Judy all struggle with day-to-day life in the office, united in their hatred of Hart and determined to get their revenge.  In a hilarious scene they share a joint in Doralee’s house, provided by her teenage son Josh (Wilf Mees), and each of them then enacts a fantasy of how they would like to get rid of him.  They put their plan into action by kidnapping Hart and tying him to his bed while his trophy wife Missy Hart (Melanie Tyrrell) is away on a cruise.  We see her fleetingly but she returns at the end as the surprise amour of Roz, who was exiled to a spurious language course by the three scheming women.

The women return to the office and have to work out how they can explain Hart’s absence to the rest of the staff, while taking on the running of the company themselves, making it more productive and successful and a happier place to work.

Hart escapes his captivity, takes Judy hostage, and returns to the office – in his pyjamas.  In the meantime the women have discovered that he was embezzling company funds and plan to expose him but they seem to have been thwarted.   Along comes Mr Tinsworthy, CEO of Consolidated.  He congratulates Hart on the changes made while the women try to tell him that it is actually they who have made the difference.  In order to reward Hart for his success, Tinsworthy sends him to manage the South American branch in Bolivia where he is captured by natives and never heard of again!  The three women realise their potential: Violet is promoted to Company President and finds a new love, Doralee becomes a successful country and western singer, Judy remains single and writes a bestselling book, and Roz discovers her true love in the person of Hart’s wife.  And they all lived happily ever after – I always like a happy ending!

Congratulations to Director Laura Musco who re-lived something of her own experiences in a 1970s office.  Interestingly, Laura tells us that instead of a live band, the music was the official set of instrumental tracks provided by the licensors so the audience had the benefit of a full orchestra.  This in itself must have been a challenge to the cast to get their timings absolutely right, otherwise the music would have carried on and left them floundering!  So well done Rob Miller, the Musical Director, for keeping everyone up to the mark.

As usual, a thoroughly enjoyable evening, full of nostalgia for those ‘good old days’ when technology was but a dream and the biggest headaches were changing the typewriter ribbon, juggling with carbon paper and tippex, and fighting a photocopier with a mind of its own. 

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