Opinions and proposals are unbiased and merchandise are independently chosen. Postmedia could earn an affiliate fee from purchases made via hyperlinks on this web page.
Article content material
Dolly Parton’s 9 to five: The Musical, operating at Stage West till June 25, is a frothy and frivolous time warp to 1979 and an period by which workplace politics have been as antiquated as workplace machines.
Commercial 2
Article content material
It’s the story of a trio of feminine staff of Consolidated Industries who’ve been walked on, missed and demeaned for therefore lengthy by their sexist, self-serving boss, they take him hostage and run the workplace in an environment friendly, productive and employee-friendly method.
Article content material
It’s primarily based on the 1980 movie of the identical identify that starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton, and it must be famous it took not less than 20 years earlier than sexual harassment within the workplace turned entrance web page information so, what is basically wincing behaviour from the males within the workplace and significantly the boss himself, is handled for broad comedy. It might be offensive if it have been performed with any diploma of subtlety, however underneath the path of Liz Gilroy, it’s all pure farce.
Franklin J. Hart (Mark Weatherley) has given a promotion that ought to have gone to not too long ago widowed Violet Newstead (Julia Juhas) to a younger man she educated. Judy Bernly (Kate Blackburn) has been dumped by her husband Dick (Mark Allan) for a 19-year-old, so she has no alternative however to return to the workforce and endure Hart’s insults. The buxom Doralee Rhodes (April Cook dinner) is shunned by the ladies within the workplace as a result of Hart has unfold the false hearsay that she is his mistress. At the very least Doralee has her supportive, loving husband Dwayne (Gaelan Beatty) to go residence to every night time. Now if solely Violet would give Joe (Jason Lemmon), her youthful co-worker an opportunity, she too might have somebody to lean on as Juhas and Lemmon ponder within the romantic duet Let Love Develop.
Article content material
Commercial 3
Article content material
Violet, Judy and Doralee don’t a lot concoct a revenge plot towards Hart as they fall into it. Violet will get a reefer from her teenage son Josh (Eric Dahlinger) and through their excessive every goals of how they’d like to get again at Hart. It’s undoubtedly one of many funnier moments within the present and it results in an enormous song-and-dance quantity for every of the ladies.
In Dance of Loss of life, Judy sees herself as a form of Hata Hari who lures Hart into her net, whereas Doralee, in Cowgirl’s revenge, ropes and hogties him. In Potion Notion, a form of warped Disney fantasy, Violet poisons him. These goals, in a lot milder trend, do materialize leading to a collection of slapstick gags that, in the event that they’d been sped up like an outdated silent film, might have been hilarious as a substitute of simply mildly amusing.
Juhas, Blackburn and Cook dinner are all triple-threat performers. They’ve slick comedian timing, dynamite voices and, within the case of Juhas, dazzling dance strikes as when she and her male troop sing and dance One of many Boys. It’s like one thing out of Chicago or Cabaret.
Blackburn offers full vent to the torch music Get Out and Keep Out when her husband needs her to take him again and Cook dinner is sweetly horny giving some musical pathos to Doralee’s Backwoods Barbie lament.
Commercial 4
Article content material
Screenwriter Patricia Resnick, who collaborated with Parton on 9 to five’s transformation right into a musical, offers Franklin an awesome quantity in Right here for You when he tries to seduce Doralee and Weatherley holds nothing again to make it as smarmy as potential.
Elinor Holt as Roz, the workplace supervisor who’s not-so-secretly smitten with Hart, turns Coronary heart to Hart right into a show-stopping quantity with shades of the late, nice comedienne Madeline Kahn. Katherine Fadum additionally will get most laughs from her routine as Margaret, the workplace lush.
As a director, Gilroy has a knack for paring down large, brassy Broadway musicals to suit Stage West’s stage utilizing solely important set items and props. This economic system actually works for 9 to five: The Musical and turns the ensemble actors into the set changers concurrently dancing and transferring set items round. It’s economical and visually fascinating.
Phil Nero’s choreography fills the stage and the areas between songs with pizazz and, speaking about economic system, musical director Konrad Pluta with Jeff Fafard on drums and Carl Janzen on Guitar give the songs their due.
In a intelligent gimmick, Parton seems through a pre-taped video to introduce and touch upon the present which is becoming as a result of she is probably not up there on the stage however her spirit undoubtedly is. This can be a Dolly Parton present at its homespun, country-style, innuendo-laced greatest.
Feedback
Postmedia is dedicated to sustaining a energetic however civil discussion board for dialogue and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Feedback could take as much as an hour for moderation earlier than showing on the location. We ask you to maintain your feedback related and respectful. We now have enabled electronic mail notifications—you’ll now obtain an electronic mail in case you obtain a reply to your remark, there may be an replace to a remark thread you observe or if a person you observe feedback. Go to our Group Tips for extra info and particulars on the right way to regulate your electronic mail settings.
Be part of the Dialog