What fun it is to go to a show about which you’re hesitant – and come out grinning from ear to ear. Stages St. Louis’ current show is 9 to 5 The Musical, and for those of us who delighted in the movie, it was holding-our-breath time to see what surgery had been done.
Hooray, it’s as much fun as its parent.
If you missed the film, here’s the story – three women are working in an office in the late Seventies. Technically, they’re all secretaries, but Violet (Corrine Melancon) is a supervisor, and Judy ((Laura E. Taylor) a new hire. The third, Doralee (Summerisa Bell Stephens), is private secretary to Franklin Hart (Joe Cassidy) the big boss. Hart is dazzlingly offensive in everything from language (both condescending and moderately obscene) to grabs and leers and peering up skirts. Comeuppance is bound to happen. The use of the word “bound” is not by chance.
Dolly Parton wrote the title song and played Doralee in the film, then wrote the entire score for the musical. It sounds like her, with lyrics that are very relatable. Stephens does indeed channel Parton, and that’s not at all a complaint. The role was written for Parton, and Stephens’ delivery and the lines as written nail things perfectly – when she’s asked whether her breasts are real, her response is, “They’re as real as the hair on my head!” Hart, the lech, has told people at the office that she’s his mistress, but she’s not, and doesn’t know what he’s said.
Violet had Hart pass her over for promotions many times. She’s fed up. Melancon takes the role and makes it her own, a strong-but-struggling single mom flailing at her boss. She’s much closer to Allison Janney, who originated the role on Broadway, than to Lily Tomlin, who did the movie. Judy, the rookie whose husband has just left her for his 19-year-old secretary, has a fantasy scene, “The Dance of Death”, and Taylor particularly shines in the sudden change from hesitant to siren. The trio carry off the banter and physical comedy with considerable flair.
Cassidy’s Hart is a toxic waste zone, nothing to recommend him, not even style. He takes his liberties as though it were a birthright, so calm about much of it that it becomes even more believable than if more scenery-chewing were involved. Spooky – and realistic.
The women in the office are delightful. An almost unrecognizable Kari Ely is Roz Keith, a spy for Hart who explains her adoration for him in “Heart to Hart” . Regulars will recognize Zoe Vonder Haar as Margaret, the office lush, another high-spirited participant in the fun. And Steve Isom, as Judy’s wandering husband, dons the awful fashions of the era to great effect. I only wonder that they didn’t garb him in a full Cleveland, but Brad Musgrove’s costumes do very well indeed.
Michael Hamilton the theatre’s artistic director, led this production and did the staging. Dana Lewis’ choreography emphasizes the amusing and incongruous sight of guys in business suits dancing. It’s a simple-seeming set from James Wolk but gets a little more complex when it comes to comeuppance for Hart.
This is an absolute delight, with a story that comes roaring through and a cast that does it full justice. And, I might add, fairly timely, even now.
9 to 5 The Musical
through August 20
Stages St. Louis
The Robert G. Reim Theatre
Kirkwood Civic Center
111 S. Geyer Rd., Kirkwood
314-821-2407