Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff – until 2 November 2019
Reviewed by Rhys Payne
4****
Many people are familiar with the 9 to 5 story because of the film and its association with Dolly Parton, but I personally only know the titular song from the musical and that is why I was very excited to be invited to watch 9 to 5 the Musical at the Wales Millennium Centre. I have discovered that this is a musical that transcends the time it was written in and deals with very important issues that many people still deal with today.
The fantastic thing about this show is that it is both a spectacular, vibrant and fun-filled musical but also a serious, important piece of theatre that is about issues such as female empowerment, the treatment of women in the workplace and the importance of sisterhood/friendship in the modern world which this show managed to blend both these concepts beautifully. The show is crafted to empower women and raise awareness of the dreadful way some women are treated specially in the male-run workplace, this alongside the influence of Dolly Parton’s larger-the-life personality makes this a show that is fun to watch but also leaves an important message in the audience’s mind. This is a musical, based on the film, that focuses on the lives of three women who band together in a protest against their sexist and perverted boss and how they come together and rise to make the office a more welcoming and equal place to live. Individually each of these women faces problems caused by their male boss which causes them to come together and kidnap their boss. The staging for this show was at time bright and colourful with hundreds of computer screen framing the screen to add to the office setting of the show but these are used, at different points in the show, to display colourful panels that light the stage which is a very clever inclusion as it helps to merge the mundane office setting with the vibrant nature of the story. This shows that the design team on this project work very hard to encapsulate the show as a concept which worked beautifully and so the team deserve the highest of praise.
The show opened with the titular song which was an incredible ensemble dance number which helped to establish the nature of the show. What was very interesting about this opening was Dolly Parton appeared in the big clock situated on stage where she sang parts of the song and helped to introduce each character. This concept was used again at the end of the musical to help close the show which helped establish this show as a sort of fable. As this show is about female empowerment and as the main ‘male’ in the show is incredible crude and offensive, this show could be taken as anti-men but as this framing by Dolly Parton helps to establish this as almost a created story she is telling (while it is obviously based on truth) it keeps the focus on the women while showing the boss as almost a caricature of certain men. This inclusion was not only clever but also cool to see due to Dolly Parton’s iconic association with the show and helped to add even more energy to the show. Talking about Dolly Parton, the character called Doralee Rhodes (played by Georgina Castle) was a hilarious tribute to Dolly herself. Apart from the obvious tribute to the iconic country singer, this character also dealt with issues such as gossip and judging people based on appearance. This character sang the song ‘Backwards Barbie’ which was an emotional song about her dreams and how people judge her based on her appearance. This song was very heartfelt, and Georgina performed it so authentically and realistically that it created extreme amounts of sympathy for the character from the audience which shows her acting and singing talent which was used perfectly in this show.
One of the other three main women in this production was Violet Newstead (played by Caroline Sheen) who was higher-up in the office who constantly misses out on promotions in the office purely based on the fact she is a woman. This character had an iconic scene where her, along with the other protesters, smokes weed and is high on top of the office building. This scene was very well acted and was also very hilarious. This character sang the song ‘One of the Boys’ which talks about how she is raising the organisation to become the CEO and how this role was male-run but now times have changed. This song was gloriously over-the-top in a glamorous, jazz style number with an on-stage costume change which was great to see.
Amber Davies, played by Judy Bernly, who was also one of the lead women in this show. This character was left by her husband which leads to her growing in strength and becoming a strong independent woman by the end. She starts this musical being forced to get her first job in an office where she is completely over-her-head with having to adapt to working life but after a while, she grows which causes her to do things, she would never have thought of before. Nothing encapsulates this more than ‘Get Out and Stay Out’ which is the moment she realises she can be strong without having a man. This was an extremely powerful song that was performed flawlessly by Amber and showcased how much of a talented performer she is.
The antagonist of this story was Franklin Hart JNR, who is the boss of the office. This must have been a very difficult role in performing in as this character is not only the antagonist but also is extremely sexist and crude to the female workers in the office. Sean Needham who played this role managed to create a character that was so hateful that it worked perfectly in terms of the show. This was a character who the audience wanted to get what he deserved, and he does just before the interval where he is tied up and suspended from the ceiling of his own house. This led to an incredibly hilarious moment when the interval started by Sean was still suspended just hanging there before the safety curtain fell. Sean managed to play the role so well especially the song ‘Here for you’ which was totally hilarious but also incredibly uncomfortable to watch (on purpose) which had sexualised dancing and jokes which made for a very unusual musical number that was unique but also helped to establish the character as a hate-able ‘sexist pig.’ Sean performed this role excellently and allowed it to do exactly what it needed to for the story to be believable.
My favourite character in this production was Roz who was played by Lucinda Lawrence. This character was the ‘company spy’ who worked with Franklin Hart Jnr to inform him of employee secrets and gossip. She had one of the greatest songs in the entire show called ‘Heart to Hart’ which was a hilarious number where she confessed her love for the boss. This song showcased Lucinda’s flexibility but also had an incredible costume reveal into lingerie which was artfully performed.
Overall, this was an incredible show that was vibrant and fun but also managed to deal with very important issues that are still relevant to today’s society. The show was hilarious and contained a lot of sexualised actions and dialogue which did mean it wasn’t appropriate for a young audience, but also as the show is about office working relationship young audience members probably wouldn’t appreciate the show in general, but for the more mature audience will find this show hilarious but also incredibly moving. I would rate this show 4 out of 5 stars and would encourage everyone to catch this show before it leaves on the 2nd November.