Dolly Parton Music Transitions Popular Movie to Broadway
By Lauren Yarger
To create yet another movie-turned-Broadway-musical, country music star Dolly Parton pens songs and lyrics to repackage the 1980 big-screen hit 9 to 5 (in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) into a staged musical running at the Marquis Theatre.
Fans of the movie should enjoy. Most of the plot involving three secretaries who kidnap their sexist boss and take over during his absence to improve working conditions at their corporation is there, as well as 16 songs added to the 9 to 5 theme song Parton had written for the movie.
The tunes unfortunately don’t stand out (though they benefit from some terrific orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin and Musical Director Stephen Oremus) and the lyrics are simple by Broadway standards, but the show’s stars, directed by Joe Mantello, pack enough punch to carry the engaging story (book by Patricia Resnick, who wrote the movie screenplay). There are a few changes from movie to stage, some for no apparent reason, but the overall package is there.
Megan Hilty plays Doralee, the buxom secretary whom everyone thinks is having an affair with the boss, Franklin Hart, Jr. (Marc Kudish). She looks and sounds so much like a younger Parton, it’s scary. Stephanie J. Block lends her lovely singing voice (and gets a really great belting number) in the role of Judy, the newly divorced woman with no work experience. She is taken under the wing of seasoned secretary Violet (Allison Janney, who doesn’t have a Broadway belt, but who holds her own and recently won the Drama Desk award for best actress in a musical) who keeps getting passed over for promotions by the men she trains.
During a pot party, the women fantasize about getting even with the unfair, demeaning Hart and in a bizarre set of circumstances that follow, their fantasies become reality when Violet accidently poisons his coffee. Hart discovers the attempt and threatens to have them arrested. The women react by kidnapping him and keeping him tied up in his house until they can find incriminating evidence of his illegal business transactions with which to bargain for their freedom.
Meanwhile, with Violet’s business know-how, Judy’s availability to babysit the kidnap victim at night and Doralee’s talent for forging Hart’s signature, the three transform their workplace into a productive environment and manage to keep Hart devotee Roz (Kathy Fitzgerald) at bay. Violet even has time to develop a romantic attachment with one of the corporation’s junior accountants, Joe (Andy Karl).
Scott Pask’s set pieces neatly swing and glide into place and a smoking, spitting copier is quite amusing. Andy Blankenbuehler adds some snappy choreography and William Ivey Long designs the costumes.
9 to 5 isn’t up there with the best musicals ever to grace a Broadway stage, but it’s not one of the worst to make the jump from screen either. It’s a fun, entertaining piece of theater.
9 to 5 plays at the Marquis, 1535 Broadway, NYC through Sept. 6. For tickets, call (212) 307-4100/(800) 755-4000. For special group rates, click here.
Christians might also like to know:
• Drug use depicted
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sexually suggestive dialogue and lyrics
By Lauren Yarger
To create yet another movie-turned-Broadway-musical, country music star Dolly Parton pens songs and lyrics to repackage the 1980 big-screen hit 9 to 5 (in which she starred with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) into a staged musical running at the Marquis Theatre.
Fans of the movie should enjoy. Most of the plot involving three secretaries who kidnap their sexist boss and take over during his absence to improve working conditions at their corporation is there, as well as 16 songs added to the 9 to 5 theme song Parton had written for the movie.
The tunes unfortunately don’t stand out (though they benefit from some terrific orchestrations by Bruce Coughlin and Musical Director Stephen Oremus) and the lyrics are simple by Broadway standards, but the show’s stars, directed by Joe Mantello, pack enough punch to carry the engaging story (book by Patricia Resnick, who wrote the movie screenplay). There are a few changes from movie to stage, some for no apparent reason, but the overall package is there.
Megan Hilty plays Doralee, the buxom secretary whom everyone thinks is having an affair with the boss, Franklin Hart, Jr. (Marc Kudish). She looks and sounds so much like a younger Parton, it’s scary. Stephanie J. Block lends her lovely singing voice (and gets a really great belting number) in the role of Judy, the newly divorced woman with no work experience. She is taken under the wing of seasoned secretary Violet (Allison Janney, who doesn’t have a Broadway belt, but who holds her own and recently won the Drama Desk award for best actress in a musical) who keeps getting passed over for promotions by the men she trains.During a pot party, the women fantasize about getting even with the unfair, demeaning Hart and in a bizarre set of circumstances that follow, their fantasies become reality when Violet accidently poisons his coffee. Hart discovers the attempt and threatens to have them arrested. The women react by kidnapping him and keeping him tied up in his house until they can find incriminating evidence of his illegal business transactions with which to bargain for their freedom.
Meanwhile, with Violet’s business know-how, Judy’s availability to babysit the kidnap victim at night and Doralee’s talent for forging Hart’s signature, the three transform their workplace into a productive environment and manage to keep Hart devotee Roz (Kathy Fitzgerald) at bay. Violet even has time to develop a romantic attachment with one of the corporation’s junior accountants, Joe (Andy Karl).
Scott Pask’s set pieces neatly swing and glide into place and a smoking, spitting copier is quite amusing. Andy Blankenbuehler adds some snappy choreography and William Ivey Long designs the costumes.
9 to 5 isn’t up there with the best musicals ever to grace a Broadway stage, but it’s not one of the worst to make the jump from screen either. It’s a fun, entertaining piece of theater.
9 to 5 plays at the Marquis, 1535 Broadway, NYC through Sept. 6. For tickets, call (212) 307-4100/(800) 755-4000. For special group rates, click here.
Christians might also like to know:
• Drug use depicted
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sexually suggestive dialogue and lyrics
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