9 to 5 The Musical

9 to 5 the Musical, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick tells the story of three workmates pushed to boiling point by their sexist and egotistical boss. The story takes place at the offices of Consolidated Industries in America in the late 1970s. Violet Newstead has worked at Consolidated for many years but is constantly overlooked for promotion, as she is not part of ‘The Boys Club’. Judy Bernly is newly separated from her husband Dick and has joined Consolidated having never worked before. Doralee Rhodes is a happily married country girl ostracised from her female work colleagues as her boss, Franklyn Hart Jr, has been telling everyone that they are having an affair. After a bad day in the office the three fantasize about how they would kill their boss. The next day Hart is able to blackmail the three women and threatens them with the police when Violet accidently substitutes rat poison for the Sweet‘n Lo in his coffee. After some quick thinking by the three women Hart is tied up, kidnapped and taken to his own house. This leaves the three women empowered to run the company until the surprise arrival of the Chairman of the Board.

There is such a lot to say about this show and it has been difficult to consolidate it into just a few words but here are the edited highlights.

Violet played by Amelia Wildmore-Evans gave a strong and without fault performance including her onstage quick change into a CEO. Adele Clarkson in the role of Judy portrayed a range of emotions and showed great development of character; I particularly enjoyed her performance of ‘Get Out and Stay Out’.  Charley Lampitt played Doralee as the strong independent woman with plenty of sass. All three had been well cast and delight to watch.

Alexander Madden as Franklin Hart Jr revelled in this role giving us plenty of sexist, arrogant and pompous behaviour, with just enough sleaze for the audience to be happy for him to be kidnapped, gagged and tied up at the end of Act one.

Stacey Taras in the supporting role of Roz Keith was a particular favourite, her comedy timing was great and I particularly liked the fact that she threw herself completely and sometimes unashamedly in to the role as she yearned for the love and attention of Hart.

It was great to see Nat Hodgkiss progress into a supporting role as Joe, again great performance and lovely duet with Violet (Let Love Grow).

You don’t have to play a main role to get noticed and there were some great characters especially Rachel Cuthbert in the role of Margaret.

The direction of this show by first time TADLOP Director Banayiodis Vanezi was good with just the occasional blocking of sightlines due to onstage properties getting in the way. Choreography by Ben Anderson was energetic and within the capabilities of all performers although on occasion was not used to progress the storyline.

The orchestra was under the control of Lorna Parkhouse, again perfectly balanced and good quality of music coming from the orchestra pit.

There was an impressive and large set under the supervision of Stage Manager, Rich Kee. The set changes were quiet and quick, with a number completed with the stage in blackout, which is unusual for such a modern style of show. Lighting in general was low level and some performers were cast in shadow during the performance although there was a nice distinction between reality and the fantasy scenes.

Costumes were good and I liked the contrast of colours and styles once the office rules had been changed.

And finally the hard working ensemble brought together an evening that the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

Under the control and vision of a new production team of Ban, Ben, Lorna and production assistant Sam Lampitt, the show brought with it an uplift in energy to the society and I very much look forward to seeing the societies next production ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ in Autumn 2023.

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