The 1980 Dolly Parton vehicle 9 to 5 is remembered fondly for that iconic title song and the dazzling comic performances of Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. The musical adaptation fleshed out with a slew of new Parton songs and a book by original screenwriter Patricia Resnick, hit Broadway in 2009 and comes to Columbus in a charming, finely calibrated production at CATCO, directed by Leda Hoffmann.
Set in the movie’s timeframe of 1979, 9 to 5 follows the friendships forged under fire of Violet Newstead (Angela Iannone), Judy Bernly (Shauna Marie) and Doralee Rhodes (Annie Huckaba), in an extremely toxic workplace. They hit upon the idea of some revenge on their cartoonishly tyrannical boss Franklin Hart, Jr. (Luke Bovenizer), with Roz Keith (Patricia Wallace-Winbush) as his eyes and ears.
The new songs hold their own against the original everyone loves – and that’s no small feat since the iconic vamp at the beginning of the title song insinuates itself. Que Jones’ music direction, played by an electrifying trio of Ejiela Agi on piano and leading the band, bassist Jenna Jarowski, and Sarah Diskin on percussion, has the right snap and bounce to propel a two-hour and 20 minute (with one intermission) show and make that time go by much more quickly.
Exemplary singing across the board is apparent in the show’s first moments and never flags. As a long-time fan of Parton’s writing, I never thought much about the use of interlocking harmonies in her work but the tight, contrasting vocals really pop here, also aided by Hoffmann’s traverse staging that doesn’t go higher than six rows, increasing the intensity and identification of the audience members; Nichole Sterling’s choreography, with its sense of everyone always being in motion but also going in circles, amping up that intensity while highlighting the cyclical-but-not-moving-forward sense of much of office life.
Iannone rips into the iconic role of Violet and makes it her own with whip-crack comedic timing and sizzling singing on songs that introduce us to the world of the show, like “Around Here” and “One of the Boys.” While I had a hard time getting with the narrative point of Jordan Young’s character Joe, a new character for the stage play and a love interest for Violet, his glowing ensemble singing and gorgeous duet with Iannone on “Let Love Grow” are highlights.
Marie’s portrayal of Judy, the viewpoint character, is a marvel of watching a character in transition, with a warm voice that fits perfectly with every partner, and some sly, behind-the-beat timing that we watch evolve. She lends key harmonies and assists, imbuing her solo feature “Get Out and Stay Out” with the same sense of triumph as audience members that the character has in the setting of the play. Huckaba’s Doralee explodes in her feature “Backwoods Barbie” and brings power and charm to her songs with the other two and the larger ensemble.
Wallace-Winbush brings the house down with Roz Keith’s lusty defense of and proposition, “Heart to Hart,” with a physical, belting performance that knocked me back in my chair. Bovenizer’s knack for physical comedy and charming menace have never had a better showcase, leaning into the cringey sneer of “Here For You” and credibly struggling where he’s bound in his house – to the extent I missed some of the real suspense and nerve-wracking menace of the last half of the movie, we don’t feel like anyone’s in real danger here, and that sucked some of the gravity away for me, making the play seem fluffier than its source. The ensemble does excellent work, with specific attention to Brian Gray as company head Tinsworth and two different husbands of the main characters, Dwayne and Dick, gracefully shifting gears.
That lack of suspense in the second half, and the insertion of Joe that felt a lot to everyone I saw it with as the material’s sop to “Not All Men,” are the only real things I found not to like in this fine adaptation – and those felt like issues with the material and not the production. Well, and the fact that almost none of the improvements Violet makes to the office are in common practice 40 years later, and what has been gained is being ripped away, but that’s not a fault of the play. It’s a fun, charming show with the right amount of anarchy, brimming with wit, that sent me into the night humming many of its songs.
9 to 5 has extended its run through February 26, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. For tickets and more info, visit catco.org/2022-23/9-to-5.
