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No ordinary day at the office

The cast of “9 TO 5.” Photo: David Hooley

Musical theatre / “9-to-5: the Musical,” score by Dolly Parton, book by Patricia Resnick. At Capitol Theatre, Sydney, until March 31. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.

THIS musical show delivers pretty well what you would expect – a famous song by Dolly Parton, which gives the title to the show, broadly sketched comedy with a feminist message and three heroic women working in a male-dominated office who decide to kidnap the nasty boss.

The full-on songs are written by Dolly Parton, who played the role of Doralee in the movie, but the book by the 1980 movie’s screenwriter Patricia Resnick leaves a lot to be desired, full of one-line liners, misogynistic jokes by the boss and, to counter them, feminist retorts as punchlines.

If we heard once that Judy’s (Casey Donovan) fickle husband’s name was “Dick”, we were to hear it many times more during the course of the night – the very word is meant to elicit a laugh.

Casey Donovan, Marina Prior and Erin Clare. Photo: David Hooley

The set and lighting are simply magnificent – banks of neon shaped computer screens change colour and the rear projections depicts downtown Manhattan, constantly moving to give the impression of going up and down the elevators.

We didn’t need a line-up dancer-supernumeraries – I could never make out what they were doing as they zipped across the stage in the busy office – unless it was to show us what good dancers they were.

For the unpublicised reality is that “9-to-5: the Musical,” is an intimate show about a very few characters, almost a boutique musical.

There’s career woman and recovering widow Violet (Marina Prior) newly-separated new office girl Judy, (Donovan) inadvertently sexy country girl Doralee (Erin Clare).

Caroline O’Connor and Eddie Perfect. Photo: David Hooley

As their adversaries are Eddie Perfect as the controlling boss Franklin Hart Jnr – he gets the misogynist jokes but is at sea in the thankless part – and Caroline O’Connor as lovestruck office manager Roz, whose ripper song “Heart to Hart” brings the house down.

It’s a totally improbable plot where the girls string the boss up and get to run the company to much applause, but they play it to the hilt.

Prior, as the talented Viole, holds the action together; Clare manages to make sense of the pretty country girl despised for her good looks and Casey Donovan’s magnificent voice overcomes her character’s weaknesses. These gals can act.

The surprise role is that of Caroline O’Connor, who plays the office manager and spy for the boss, whom she desperately loves. She’s totally unrecognisable in her wig and make-up, that is until she strips off for the raunchy song where she reveals her feelings for the boss, it’s quite an extraordinary performance.

“9-to-5” is feel-good, it’s very loud and colourful, it’s very easy to understand, but it does leave you wondering whether the whole thing isn’t a load of twaddle.

 

 

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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