There was an unexpected poignancy to seeing 9 to 5 The Musical this week. Dolly Parton, who wrote the music and lyrics for the show, died on Tuesday, aged 80, just hours before it opened at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre.
On opening night, Karla Tracey – who plays Doralee, the role made famous by Parton in the original film – broke the news from the stage before the performance began. The announcement was met by an audible gasp from the audience, before Tracey dedicated the show to Dolly.
We saw it the next day, when the news had had a little more time to sink in, but seeing a theatre full of people on their feet at the end of a musical bearing Dolly’s name still felt like a rather lovely tribute.
And it is a fun show. Based on the 1980 film, it follows three women working for the spectacularly awful Franklin Hart Jr (played with great relish by Tim Rogers), a sexist, egotistical boss who variously patronises, harasses and takes credit for the women around him who are doing all the work. Violet (Jade Marvin), Judy (Kayla Carter) and Doralee (Karla Tracey) eventually decide they’ve had enough and take matters into their own hands.
The plot itself is fairly thin – and gets increasingly farcical as it goes along – but there’s still something satisfying about watching these three women take Hart down.
Hart is very much a cartoon version of workplace misogyny, and thankfully you’d hope he’d struggle to get away with quite so much quite so blatantly today. But more than 40 years after the original film came out, the underlying issues of harassment, inequality and women having to fight harder to be taken seriously at work haven’t exactly disappeared. The female friendship and solidarity at the heart of the story still lands, even if the plot wrapped around it is anything but subtle.
It’s not a particularly nuanced exploration of female empowerment either, but then it doesn’t really pretend to be. This is big, bright musical theatre, with a live band, plenty of dancing and a score written by Parton.
We went in knowing precisely one song. You can probably guess which one. But having missed the opening few minutes (rather aptly due to our train back from work running late), we had to wait until the finale for the familiar opening bars of ‘9 to 5’.
The big hitter was every bit as infectious as you’d hope, but the rest of the score was more mixed: there are some great numbers, while others don’t land quite as memorably. The second half is noticeably snappier, though, with the comedy coming faster and the whole show feeling like it’s found another gear.
The three women at its centre are the reason it works. All have seriously strong voices and Tracey is particularly good as Doralee, bringing plenty of Dolly-esque warmth and comic timing without turning the character into an impersonation. Marvin and Carter are excellent too, and the trio are at their best when they’re bouncing off each other. The supporting cast are also strong, with lots of fun characters popping up around the office and adding to the comedy.
One of our favourite moments, though, belonged to Jessica Martin as office manager Roz Keith whose (inexplicable) passion for Hart is initially hidden beneath a prim exterior. Her dance with Hart is gloriously OTT and very funny – exactly the sort of thing this show does best.
There are some cracking lines too, including a particularly good S&M gag that we’re not going to ruin by explaining here.
One practical warning: choose your seats carefully. The Pavilion’s sightlines from the sides aren’t terribly kind to this production and, with a fair amount of the action happening towards the edges and back of the stage, you can miss a surprising amount. We’d strongly recommend sitting as centrally as possible.
We weren’t completely blown away by the production: the story could do with a bit more meat on its bones and not every song earns its place. But it’s funny, warm, unapologetically camp and powered by some excellent performances. By the much pacier second half, we were firmly along for the ride. And the Worthing audience clearly was too: the cast got a standing ovation.
In a week when the world lost Dolly Parton, watching a theatre full of people stand up for a show built around her songs, humour and particular brand of female defiance felt rather more moving than anyone involved could have planned.
9 to 5 The Musical runs at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing until Saturday 29th August, before continuing its UK tour.
Photo credits (except feature photo): Louise Waldron
