9 to 5 The Musical

9 to 5 is based on the 1980 film of the same name and features music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It is set in the  1970’s and centres on the working lives of three office staff, Violet, Judy and Doralee. They conspire together to turn the tables on their sexist, smarmy, hypocritical, egotistical, lying boss, and begin to make woman-friendly changes in the workplace. These three ladies basically hold the whole show together and what a formidable, fantastic and fabulous trio they were. Firstly Violet, the Head Secretary who is continually overlooked for promotion, was confidently and brilliantly portrayed by Deborah McPherson. She totally dominated the stage and her acting, comic timing and singing skills were, without doubt, simply stunning - a truly first-rate performance. Louise Simcox had the unenviable task of playing Doralee, the supposed ‘office slut’ (originally played by Dolly Parton) but she absolutely nailed it. Never trying to totally emulate Dolly, although having said that it is so difficult not to let Dolly’s larger than life persona penetrate a little, and some aspects did creep in, but Louise definitely made it her own. She was feisty and flamboyant, sexily strutting around the stage with great poise and assurance and her singing of the differing genres was impeccable. Another fine performance came from Anna Cousins as the new girl, Judy, who is rather insecure, recently divorced, with no office skills but is forced to return to work. What an amazing, beautiful singing voice Anna has, her delivery of ‘Get Out and Stay Out’ was just outstanding. Damon Hatton was ideally suited to the role of the smarmy, arrogant, pompous and egotistical boss, Franklin Hart. He was extremely entertaining, a bit too over the top at times, but played this difficult role to great effect. Administrative Assistant Roz is infatuated with Hart and Emma Woodyet brought out the comic elements of the part brilliantly, and what a superb singing voice she has. Andrew Buxton was charming as Joe who admires Violet from afar, he moved easily from the comedic aspects of the role to the singing of a lovely expressive duet with Violet, ‘Let Love Grow’. There were numerous other named parts plus the ensemble who were  all worthy of praise but I must just mention Louise Curd as Margaret, the office drunk, she was ‘brill’! The choreography of all the numbers was excellent and well executed none more so than in the ‘Fantasy’ scenes where the three ladies imagine themselves as a femme fatale, a rodeo star and Snow White. The well dressed set was inventive, coping well with the various scene changes. At the start of the show the art deco style screen had a large clock in the centre where a video image of Dolly Parton appeared and she set the storyline for us and bade us farewell at the end. Good lighting and sound effects together with a great band, excellent costumes and a wonderful enthusiastic and energetic cast, produced a scintillating and vibrant show. 

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