9 to 5 at California Musical Theater
By James E. Roberts
Staff Writer
I wanted to like this show; I really
did. I liked the movie on which it was based; I enjoy Dolly
Parton’s music. I thought that the lead performers in this
production were fine actors and singers, and the set worked well
enough. I even enjoyed the addition of a new character that wasn’t
in the movie, Joe the Accountant. The chorus of singers and dancers
performed admirably. The dialog was crisp and clear, with some
lines and jokes that weren’t in the movie and that added to the
experience.
If only I could have understood the lyrics. I know that I’ve
complained about this before, but really! I’ve been going to see
professional theatrical productions for forty-five years now. I’ve
seen national touring companies of shows from Crazy for You to 1776
to Mary Martin and Robert Preston in I Do, I Do and Angela Lansbury
in Sweeny Todd. I’ve seen shows in theaters that rivaled
Sacramento’s Community Center Theater in size, and I’ve seen shows
in arenas that had sound quality as bad as the arena formerly known
as Arco. I have even attended concerts in the Community Center
Theater, and been able to understand the lyrics completely.
So what is it with the shows in the Broadway Series
the past couple of years that they
can’t keep the orchestra from drowning out the singers? While that
usually happens occasionally during a show, 9 to 5 had an orchestra
that managed to drown out the entire cast, chorus and all, for most
of each song, the only exceptions being the songs “Backwoods
Barbie,” “Let Love Grow,” and “Get Out and Stay Out.” Even the
title song, “9 to 5,” was difficult to follow.
The California Musical Theater website has a long-format ad for 9
to 5 that includes video clips of some of the songs, and the vocals
are clearly heard over the orchestra. So why can’t that manage that
in live performance? Occasionally I could discern a word or two,
and once in a great while a whole phrase, but huge chunks of most
of the songs arrived at my ears being half-buried under a too-loud
orchestra. It’s a pity, really, because Dolly Parton is a fine song
writer, and the new lyrics to the title song would have been nice
to hear. Certainly, the songs take the place of some of the dialog
from the movie, and they must serve to advance the plot, but if I
hadn’t seen the movie and already known what was going on I might
have been confused. As it is I was just frustrated. Ah, well.
As to the show itself, 9 to 5 is
based on the popular 1980 movie comedy of the same name, which
starred Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Dabney Coleman.
It tells the story of three office workers and their nasty, sexist
boss. This stage version has Dee Hoty as Violet Newstead, the woman
who trains all the men who get the promotions that she deserves,
Diana DeGarmo as Doralee Rhodes, the curvaceous southern charmer
who must endure her boss’s endless advances because she needs the
job, Mamie Parris as Judy Bernly, recently divorced and nervously
entering the workplace out of hard necessity, and Joseph Mahowald
as Franklin Hart, Jr., their egotistical boss. If you like the
movie version of 9 to 5, you should appreciate the casting of the
four principal performers. They are not clones of the movie
characters, but different interpretations of the same roles, and
given that much of the dialog from the movie is found in the play
(Patricia Resnick, who wrote the book for the show also wrote the
screen story and co-wrote the screenplay), these actors bring a
welcome freshness and immediacy to their roles that can only work
on stage.
I would like to say that they made
you forget the originals, but that turned out to be impossible
because of an unnecessary video introduction and epilogue featuring
Dolly Parton herself, projected above the set as an in-your-face
reminder of the movie cast. That may not have been what they were
intending, but that was the result. The songs are mostly up-tempo,
and the lyrics, when you can hear them, clever and interesting.
Everyone gets a chance to shine, with Mahowald and some of the men
delighting in macho dominance in “Here for You,” Roz (a very funny
Kristine Zbornik) and the ensemble wallowing in unrequited love in
“Heart to Hart,” Diana DeGarmo’s Doralee laments her difficulty
fitting in with the other women in “Backwoods Barbie,” Mamie
Parris’ Judy sings “Get Out and Stay Out,” a powerful rejection of
her ex-husband and the life she once lived, and Violet and Joe (Dee
Hoty and Gregg Goodbrod) charmed the audience with the tender “Let
Love Grow.” There were plenty of full-cast production numbers too,
such as “Around Here,” an observation of the way things run in the
uptight office, “Change It,” a nice contrast to “Around Here,” and
“One of the Boys,” about women making it to the top of the
corporate ladder.
Directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, the choreography served
the songs well, and the pacing was crisp. Costumes by William Ivey
Long fit the period (1979) perfectly, and the set, by Kennedy Foy,
was well conceived and converted quickly from office to hospital to
car to bedroom to bathroom to whichever was needed next. Music and
lyrics are by Dolly Parton.
This is a talented, entertaining, likable cast. I think I would
like this show, if someone could convince the theater to turn down
the volume on the orchestra just a bit and let the lyrics be
understood. 9 to 5 runs from March 9 through March 20, 2011 with
tickets priced from $18 to $75, depending on the seat. Call the
Community Center Theater Box Office at (916) 557-1999 or visit the
box office at 1301 L Street, Sacramento, CA, (916) 808-5181.
Tickets also available at Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office for
single-show and season tickets, 1419 H Street, Sacramento, CA. You
can also call (916) 557-1198 for groups of 12 or more, or fax to:
(916) 557-2775. Single show tickets for Broadway Sacramento
presentations are available online through services provided by
www.Tickets.com. The season
continues April 13-24 with Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein,
and closes with Mary Poppins, June 2-19, 2011.
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