Get your attention? I hope so! That's my favorite line said by Dolly Parton's character, Doralee Rhodes, in the movie version of "9 to 5."
Now that line has moved to Broadway in the musical of the same title. Unfortunately, Ms. Parton isn't in the show, but she did write the entire score, as she did with the title song from the movie she made famous. If you ask Dolly, she wrote most of the score at the rehearsal studio using her acrylic nails as a beat. Does that surprise you? It shouldn't.
In short summary, "9 to 5" is about three women leading three very different lives. They all work for different reasons, but the one thing that bonds them is their "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" of a boss. After a very high (it's a very funny pot-smoking scene...) evening of plotting their boss's death, mischief and mayhem occurs (I won't give it all away...) that allows the three women to teach their boss a much-needed lesson about treating others as you want to be treated, female, black, white, straight, gay or otherwise.
I attended a Tuesday night performance of the show last week, and it was nothing short of spectacular. I always read reviews of shows before attending shows, and, to be fair, I read both reviewers' and commentors' posts. For this show, the reviews have been mixed, so I went into the Marquis Theatre with an even balance of positives and negatives in mind.
The actual plot stuck pretty closely to the movie's, which makes sense when you consider that the screenwriter rewrote the stage book. A few small changes are thrown in for staging purposes, but the biggest one is that Violet (played my Lilly Tomlin in the movie; Allison Janney on the stage) gains a love interest. My theatre-going friend and I were not fans of this addition, considering the story's plot is all about minority/female empowerment, and the love interest is ultimately needed to bring the boss down. A man sweeps in and saves the day...again...sigh. I'm so tired of that story...
As far as the staging goes, the use of a digital backdrop for most of the scenes was spectacular. The stage version had to portray movement of time, specifically when the workers are commuting to and from the office, and they did so through the use of digital graphics on a backdrop featuring moving arrows and clocks. The choreography during these commuting scenes also added movement in a genius way, working with the digital backdrop to visually create stop/walk signs on the streets of NYC. The signature blue, green and purple colors from the movie's logo were also used throughout the show, which was a sweet way to pay homage.
But the best part of the show were the three leading ladies --- Ms. Janney, Megan Hilty and Stephanie J. Block. Ms. Hilty portrays Doralee Rhodes and Ms. Block plays Judy Bernly (played by Jane Fonda in the movie). All three women were so entertaining that they molded themselves as the characters in my mind permanently, so now I can't imagine anyone else playing the roles! That's the sign of one stellar acting job!
(below is a performance of "Shine Like the Sun" featuring all three ladies. It's the best example of their characters to keep in mind as you read the rest of the blog.)
When I saw the movie (before the stage show), I knew from the moment Lilly Tomlin opened her mouth why Allison Janney would rock the role of Violet. Violet is the veteran of the office who dreams of being CEO, so she can't speak her highly intellectual mind for fear of falling back down the totem pole she has spent decades climbing. A dry sense of comedy and strong personality are needed to play this role well, and Janney's got it. The singing...not so much (she tries, God bless her...), but the acting is totally there. She had me laughing the most as an individual character. Ok, I'll give her some singing cred, as she's the best film-to-stage singer I've heard since Christina Applegate in "Sweet Charity" back in 2005.
Megan Hilty rocked it as Doralee! As anyone knows, Dolly Parton is not an easy act to follow, but Ms. Hilty makes the character her own without straying so far from Ms. Parton's portrayal that the intent to make the character her own becomes pretentious. Doralee is a character judged and taken advantage of for her...umm...grand assets, but it hurts her that the women resent her, and the men drool over her for these natural endowments. Ms. Hilty nailed this complicated balance of emotion, and did Ms. Parton "might proud," as Doralee would say, with her portrayal. She had the walk down. She had the accent down (and kept it up while singing, which helped her earn many props from me). She was the Backwoods Barbie. And the scene where she states the first line of this blog had every person in the audience rooting for Doralee and single-handedly set the tone for the show.
But the show stealer, as The New York Times rightfully stated, was Ms. Block. I've been a follower of SJB (as the cool kids call her) since she played Liza Minnelli in "The Boy from Oz." When she originated the role of Elphaba in "Wicked" on the national tour, I put her in the category of the typed outcast. Translation: she will always play characters who are awkwardly funny and earn the most compassion from the audience for this reason. The character of Judy in "9 to 5" is more of the ingenue with outcast bits, so I went in excited to see what SJB would do. SJB made Judy funny. SJB made Judy lovingly quirky. SJB made Judy one BAMF! Ms. Block shot to the top of my list of most respected Broadway actors because of this performance, and I know she gained some major street cred in the musical theater community. I WILL live to see her take a Tony for a future role. Get it, girl!
As I left the theater, I heard at least 10 people comment that SJB's feature song, "Get Out, and Stay Out" blew their minds the most out of any song/line/scene of "9 to 5." Watch the mind-blowing acting/belting/stunner-osity, then come to NYC and see it live! You won't get the full effect unless you do...
Xo
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