I have seen the movie “9 To 5” roughly 111,410 times. I can recite every line verbatim. It’s my own personal “Rocky Horror Picture Show”. When I was 11 years old I thought it was the best piece of cinematic fare EVER. Of course, I also thought “Xanadu” was robbed at the Oscars that year.
About a year ago I heard Dolly Parton was writing lyrics for “9 To 5: The Musical”. I lost my ever-loving mind. My favorite movie was being rewritten for the Broadway stage by my favorite singer. It was like Xmas came early.
On Thursday, after months and months of breathless anticipation, I went to go see the show. I had a perma-grin on my face for approximately 2.25 hours. The singing! The dancing! THE Allison Janney!
My Broadway experience has been limited to only a few shows. (Uh, including “Xanadu: The Musical”. No comments from the peanut gallery.) After seeing a Broadway show, I’ll immediately run out and buy the soundtrack. I’ll listen to it for about ten minutes and then I’m bored with it. My CD tower is laden with show tunes I never listen to anymore. It’s lucky if I dust them off once a year. But it’s a fun memory of my fun NY experiences.
In “9 To 5”, the show’s classic lines have been ingeniously blended alongside upbeat, sing-along songs courtesy of Dolly. Set in 1979, the show is a throwback to a simpler time before computers and cell phones. Each of the three main characters – Judy, Violet and Doralee – has a show stopping solos You could feel a genuine sigh of relief in the audience when Janney barreled through her song with gusto and fervor. While Janney has won her fair share of Emmys – I wasn’t quite sure she could belt out a tune. She did sing-speak or speak-sing much of the show and was often drowned out by the other two leads … but it didn’t matter. She got the majority of punch lines. Since the other two actresses are acclaimed Broadway pros, they could have duked it out vocally on stage. Mercifully, there was no hint of diva-ness or overuse of heavy vibrato.
Biggest surprises? 1) Mr. Hart’s beleaguered administrative assistant, Roz, was jaw-droppingly funny. While her role in the movie was memorable, her role was expanded for the stage – all for genuine comedic effect. She whooped like a soul sister during her performance of “5 To 9” – lamenting the hours she was away from the office and the boss she worshipped. And 2) the ensemble cast didn’t have much to do other than leap around from desk to desk. It was almost as if the producers got halfway through rehearsals and suddenly had an epiphany. WE NEED TO ADD MORE GRATUITIOUS DANCING! Quick — hire a bunch of people and have them shimmy around the Xerox machine. Wait – there’s not enough going on in the background. Quick – make all the male dancers kick/ball/change out of the elevators!
All in all it was a very fun romp. Made me feel like a kid again. As soon as I post this, I’m ordering the soundtrack on Amazon.com – something I couldn’t do in 1979.