9 to 5 The Musical

9 to 5 the musical is the musical written by Dolly Parton with one of the characters based on Dolly Parton herself.

It was obvious that Sufia Mills and Kizzy Green had worked hard on the harmonies and vocals in the show.

Kat Foxworthy had worked hard with the cast on their characterisations, and she had thought about how to stage the show, in particular the use of space and opening the stage up, but there was lack of pace.

Charlotte Platten and Francesca Platten had clearly thought about the different levels of ability when choreographing numbers.

Rachel E Hill (Violet), Jessica Kolthammer (Doralee) and Laura Rodgers (Judy) played the three leading ladies.  All three gave very good performances, from an acting point of view all the three ladies were excellent I felt that each lady had the relevant different characteristics needed to separate their different characters. 

Rachel was excellent, her voice was lovely, and I believed she could be a CEO and that she cared. 

Laura played Judy timid and naïve which is essential for the role, however I do feel she was not as strong when she stood up to Dick, there needed to be a bigger change in personality to show her becoming more independent and not needing him. 

Jessica’s accent was spot on, and she had really thought about the character, however Doralee is based on Dolly Parton, and as such should have the look of Dolly Parton and I felt her costumes did not give her this look, which was shame.

Colin Wilson played Franklin Hart, Jr.  He was very good; he has a great voice, and he was a boss you would not want to work for! I do think he could have been slimier and creepier though, this is a role where an actor has a license to go a little bit further than normal.

Gina Carmello was asked to play to Roz Keith with only a few weeks to learn the role.  Wow she was outstanding! Heart to Hart was a standout moment from this production, she gave it everything and it came across! She had the comic timing and voice to match, well done Gina.

Matthew Maylin played the junior accountant Joe, and he was the right choice to play opposite Rachel, it worked, and I enjoyed their duet.

Joseph Cassidy (Dwayne), Sam Whitmore (Josh), Melanie Plowman-Cobb (Missy Hart), Maria Delgado (Barbara Thomas), Michael Bailes (Dick), Helena Smagala (Kathy) and Frankie Ma (Margaret) make up the other named roles.  A special mention to Frankie, she made the most of Margaret’s comic moments, but because they were memorable it meant the moment she went to rehab meant something.

I liked the idea of the set with the bed doubling up as the backdrop for Franklin’s office.  The kitchen of the office with a lift was over the other side.  With the set being well spaced out, the pace of the show could have been quicker, there were too many unnecessary blackouts, there were many opportunities to set scenes while something was happening over the other side of the stage.  There were some lovely props used I liked the boxes used for the poison scene, but Franklin was a boss of a big organisation, he would not have used a mug as a pen holder.

Unfortunately, on the night I saw the show there was an issue with the balance of sound, the music was too loud, and it was difficult to hear the performers, this was commented on by a few members of the audience where I was sitting as well.  It did get slightly better in Act 2.  This was a shame because the cast were working hard, and they had lovely voices.

Many thanks to Hitchin Thespians for their wonderful hospitality.

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