Crossroads Live and Suzanne Jones. Adelaide Festival Centre. Festival Theatre. 13 Oct 2022
9 to 5 began the work week as a comedy film in 1980 starring formidable females Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton in her first film. The American Film Institute has it in their list of 100 funniest movies. By Wednesday, it was a TV series that ran for five seasons. And Friday after work, Yahoo! 9 to 5 The Musical opened on Broadway in 2009 with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It had a record number of nominations but no awards, go figure! It reprises regularly somewhere in the world, and now that the Australian tour has been warming up in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, 9 to 5 The Musical is ready and rootin’ tootin’ hot for where it matters (to us anyways), Adelaide!
The narrative arc is every wage slave’s dream – revenge on the boss! And is there any sweeter come-uppance than reversing the gender dystopia by having three feisty gals bail up the male manager-tormentor? Hell, no! Add in a traitor to the cause and the situation is highly flammable and funny.
This is a cast to work yourself to the bone for to buy a ticket.
Marina Prior has had musical theatre coursing through her veins from childhood. An early success was playing Guinevere opposite Richard Harris in the Australian production of Camelot in 1984, and more recently, the eponymous role in Hello, Dolly! Prior to that, Prior was Christine in the original Australian Phantom of the Opera – a gig she held for three years.
Casey Donovan is simply a winner. She won the Australian Idol singing competition in 2004 – the youngest to ever do so at age 16 – and in 2017, she took the gong in I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here. You might have seen her in Sydney mega-events like New Year’s Eve and Australia Day celebrations.
Erin Clare finished her musical theatre study in 2013. Two years later, she had the plumb role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera. Besides a continuous musical theatre career since then, Clare works on her own music and musical collaborations, recently culminating in featuring on a song that was Number One on the Australian iTunes Electronic Chart.
Caroline O’Connor, AM needs no introduction but here goes. O’Connor is a one-woman tour de force who has sung, danced and acted her way into the hearts of Australians since 1982. Besides musical theatre hits and other performances here and in the UK, there are four albums. For all this, she has garnered a closetful of Helpmann, Mo and Green Room awards – including for leads in West Side Story, Chicago and Piaf – and became a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts, particularly to musical theatre.
Singer/songwriter/musical lyricist Eddie Perfect was Artistic Director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2016-17. Besides his discography and concerts, Perfect created Shane Warne: The Musical before a Broadway bout writing the music and lyrics for Beetlejuice The Musical and aurally patching up King Kong Alive. He regularly tours his own music.
And you may know who Dolly Parton is? Dolly Parton is the most honoured female country performer of all time with forty-one career Top 10 country albums. Her main occupation these days is dreaming up ways to give away her money. There is no doubt who oversees this musical. Credited with music and lyrics, many songs echo Parton’s country roots irrespective of the narrative, but that’s fine.
9 to 5 is good fun from go to whoa! Ms Parton appears from inside the 9 to 5 clock motif like a cuckoo to chime at the beginnings and ends of the two acts. Hello to Adelaide, even the Torrens gets a mention. And she leads off with the opening song she wrote for the movie 9 to 5, which became an immensely popular anthem of office workers in the early ‘80s. Banks of old desktop computers echo the proscenium (square) arch and disappear into infinity downstage – providing a never-ending office – backdropped by a fabulously lively New York skyline. The computer screens dance in coordinated technicolour. Indeed, the drab grey of the office and work clothing is steadily transformed into a pulsing chromatic feast (set & costume design – Tom Rogers). From the opening, the saucy choreography is stunningly kenetic, lewd and lascivious – a fun theme throughout (choreographer – Lisa Stevens). The all-singing/all-dancing chorus must have drunk the copy fluid to keep up the pace and includes three Adelaideans: Lily Baulderstone, Matthew Prime and Jordan Tomljenovic.
Patricia Resnick’s book (movie and musical) is full of irony and idioms and challenges stereotypes. The women of the conspiratorial sisterhood don’t actually know each other at the beginning, and we watch their grievances align. Women should be seen for what they do and not underestimated due to their societal status. The age gap in relationships is challenged. Prejudices are challenged when a country bogan-looking fellow is a pillar of strength in his marriage. Even the office lush gets reformed.
The only stereotype beyond redemption is the cruel predatory chauvinistic pig of a boss epitomised by CEO Franklin Hart Jnr (Jnr is code for spoiled, undeserving, inherited wealth). Eddy is perfect! His bad boss was highly animated and imaginatively physicalised like a strip tease, and Perfect endowed him with his sonorous vocal range. Bravo! His PA with a unrequited crush is Caroline O’Connor’s Roz. She lays on a lust-laden song that showcases her formidable and familiar vocal and physical and comedic skills. Brava!
But the transformative narrative belongs to the three office girls (oops! women). Marina Prior employs her well-honed show biz glitz in the Lily Tomlin-created role of the super-competent office supervisor who is once again looked over for promotion. Casey Donovan inhabits Jane Fonda’s Judy Bernly – a newcomer to office work trying to overcome a creepy marriage. Erin Clare gets the platinum blonde country girl gig of guess who? Dolly Parton. This is a terrific trio of talent in a once-only ensemble of sisterhood. Their story of steady empowerment is beautifully told as Resnick (book) raises the stakes and lowers the tone into farce. The three stars shine in their solo numbers and in the warm emphatic relationships they convey. Donovan’s vocal virtuosity in her empowerment number put the show on pause. Brava!
Because 9 to 5 has had so many incarnations, this production directed with aplomb by Jeff Calhoun is tight and taut and loaded with eye candy. Musical director James Simpson hits all the right notes.
9 to 5 from 7:30 to 10 is simply the best thing to do right now in Adelaide. Take as a time capsule with a gulp of something sparkling. The underdog triumph theme is timeless!
PS The program is big on bio and full of photos, but omits the song list.
David Grybowski
When: 8 Oct to 5 Nov
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: premier.ticketek.com.au
