9 to 5 The Musical

This was my first visit to Greenock with the Noda Hat on and I was excited to see their production of 9-5, which is becoming a favourite show for clubs to perform.  9 to 5 The Musical, based on the 1980 movie of the same name features music from Dolly Parton, who via the use of projection introduced and finished the show.  The show focuses on the stories of three women; working under a boss that does not appreciate them, dealing with their own personal issues, and getting their own back on their boss to make their own happy ending.  The roles of the three leading ladies were outstandingly performed by; Sharon Tucker as Violet Newstead, Kirsty Campbell as Doralee Rhodes and Sarah Campbell as Judy Burnly.  All three portrayed strong individual characters bringing the audience into their stories with warmth and comedy.  Their individual songs; “One of the Boys” for Sharon, “Backwoods Barbie” for Kirsty and “Get Out and Stay Out” for Sarah were all equally show stopping.  As a trio they all three worked brilliantly together on the songs ‘I Just Might’ and ‘Shine Like The Sun’ which were outstanding.  Congratulations to Sharon, Kirsty and Sarah for their first-rate performances.  Their ‘sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot’ of a boss, the sleazy Franklin Hart Jr, was played wonderfully by Michael Lyden.  Michael presented a strong character that the audience just loved to loath and combined great character acting with confident vocals, especially in his number “Here for You” which set the tone of the character for the rest of the story.  His altering interpretation of Hart in the three dream numbers near the end of act one was very funny and in fact these three numbers, along with the kidnap scene was definitely the best interpretation I have seen.  A comedy highlight in the principal line-up was Jacqui Templeton’s performance of Franklin Hart’s fanatical assistant Roz Keith.  Jacqui’s characterisation was brilliant, she had the audience in stiches, and her numbers ‘Heart to Hart’ and ‘5 to 9’ were hysterical, and very well done.  The love interest for Violet is Joe, who was played by Gerard Gordon.  Gerard brought this unconfident and shy character to life with a lovely singing voice and prominent facial expressions and reactions.  One of the benefits of this show for societies is that there is loads for the full ensemble to do.  The minor principal characters of; Kathy (Linda Mitchell), Maria (Aileen McQuillan), Dwayne (Jordan Benacci), Josh (Dylan Bonnar), Dick (Paul Alford), Missy (Elaine Graham) Bob Enright (Callum McDade) and Tinsworthy (Steve Gorman) were all great, complimented each other and helped the story move along well.  Special mention should be made to Mary Goodwin as ‘the office lush’ hilarious Margaret, who only needed to walk across the stage at one point to earn a full auditorium filled with laughter.  Director Ruairidh should be proud of the characterisation throughout the principal cast and for the clever staging and slick scene changes.  The cast was completed by a very strong ensemble.  The group of girls who would take on the more challenging dances were excellent, cheery and maintained their characters within the office scenes convincingly.  The tap dancing featured in “One of the Boys” was brilliant, and the numbers where the full cast were involved in the choreography, very impressive.  A huge well done to choreographer Vikki for this sucess.  Another of the key highlights to the show were the impressive vocals during all principal and ensemble numbers under the clever leadership of Musical Director Gareth.  I thoroughly enjoyed my first official visit down to Greenock and would like to thank the club’s secretary Molly for her hospitality and warm welcome.  The club should be proud of their show which well deserved the fantastic audience reaction it received throughout and at the end with some standing ovations.  

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