You don’t have to be a fan of Dolly Parton to appreciate 9 to 5: The Musical, now at Ferndale Repertory Theatre, but if you are, you’ll probably love it even more. . The music and lyrics are written by Parton, the book by Patricia Resnick. It’s of course based on the 1980 movie by the same name, starring Parton, who also wrote the music for the movie. Parton knows something about achieving success as a woman in a man’s world; the backstory for one of the main characters is modeled on her story. Here, three women take control of their destinies at a grueling corporate office and get a little sweet revenge along the way.
Violet (Veronica Ruse) is a supervisor of secretaries at the generically named Consolidated Business, where she’s been a longtime, hardworking and loyal employee. She’s a single mother and sole provider for her family. She has corporate ambitions that have been thwarted time and again by male co-workers of lower caliber. Violet is our down-to-earth cynic who becomes a reluctant hero. She meets her newest supervisee Judy (Holly Portman) and quickly finds out Judy has no secretarial experience whatsoever. In fact, Judy has very little experience outside the home at all, having spent her entire adulthood as a housewife who’s just left her cheating husband and struck out on her own for the first time. She is our innocent on a journey of self-discovery. When Doralee (Jessie Rawson) takes the stage with bright, buxom confidence, Violet is quick to let Judy know (sotto voce), “We don’t like her.” Doralee has dreams of her own, but she takes the brunt of the boss’s horrid, sexist behavior and is shunned by the other women in the workplace. She’s our Jessica Rabbit.
The protagonists overcome their differences to band together and stand up to their horrible, egotistical, bigoted, sexist boss Franklin Hart (Tyler Egerer). Egerer gives an amazing antagonist performance — a good bad guy can make or break a show, and Egerer gives us his best worst. His over-the-top, even shocking, leers and gyrations make the audience hate Hart quickly. He may be the common enemy but his abuses have affected the protagonists in very different ways.
Ruse gives Violet a competent, grounded energy combined with the vulnerability of thwarted ambition. Violet knows her worth. At no point is she seeking Hart’s personal approval, she just needs him to get out of the way of her promotion to a job worthy of her. Judy is a sharp contrast to Violet: She doesn’t know what she wants or who she is. Portman plays Judy with an almost painful insecurity, the better to show her change through the story as she grows a backbone. Portman’s range of physical performance from the small, quiet Judy to the one taking up space and volume as she finds her strength is impressive. Doralee is subjected to the grossest of Hart’s behavior. She doesn’t let his objectification of her get her down, but she is hurt when her co-workers likewise won’t see past her glamor and cup size. Rawson embodies the down-home country girl in the big city with her performance of Doralee. Parton would be proud.
The songs are great, of course, and the cast does its level best with them, with varying levels of success. Every cast member gives it their all, and that shines through the whole show, but especially in “Hart to Hart,” Roz’s (Roux Kats) burlesque number, “Let Love Grow,” the sweet duet between Violet and Joe (Craig Woods), and Judy’s climactic number “Get out and Stay Out.”
The titular song was No. 1 on the music charts when it came out, catchy, poppy, energetic and fun. (It’s been stuck in my head for days now.) It sets the tone of the musical as the opening number, but the energy of its accompanying choreography doesn’t always keep up with the music. A number of the ensemble numbers have a similar disconnect. In contrast, the solos, especially Egerer on the desk, have great movement with them, adding to the story.
Dillon Savage’s direction gives the musical an enjoyable fairytale feel and the cast seems encouraged to lean hard into their characters, from leads to ensemble. The melodrama fits well with the revenge plot and character growth, but the musical isn’t nuanced enough to work as a comment on discrimination in the workplace or women’s rights. It uses those themes for the challenges that the heroines grow through, but is a poor study on the themes themselves. Instead, it’s a fairytale of good vs. evil and the power of believing in yourself. And it’s glamorous and authentic at the same time, just like Dolly.
Doranna Benker Gilkey (she/her) is a longtime Humboldt County resident and can often be found at her store Danda’s Boardgames and Books in Arcata.
COMING SOON
Dell’Arte’s 35th annual Baduwa’t Festival features the comedy Love’s the Best Doctor. Laugh till it hurts June 20-July 6. Visit dellarte.com.
This article appears in Humboldt Crabs Baseball.