Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to visit The Empress Theatre in Magna. It was there, that I got to watch “9 to 5: The Musical.” This musical was short lived on broadway, opening in April of 2009 and closed on Broadway September of 2009. This show got a lot of mixed reviews while it was on Broadway, however it got 4 Tony Award nominations. The music was written by Dolly Parton, who actually appeared in the 1980’s film that this musical was based off. The story is a rip roarin’ adventure that brings three girls from three different worlds together for one simple thing…. to get rid of Mr. Hart (Matthew Green), their “lying, hypocritical, sexist, egotistical boss.” This man is responsible for making everyone’s life in the office a living hell. The show is full of great music and scenes that make you fall in love with the friendship that develops with Violet (Amy Livingston Metler), the under-appreciated employee and single mother, Doralee (Emalee Easton), the sexy secretary that all the men in the office want picking up their pens, and Judy (Carrie Johnson), the newbie in the office who quickly learns that sometimes, a man is the last thing you need in your life. These girls, a love-sick jr accountant, a nosey office hag, and a cheating husband are the ingredients needed to make a show full of potential thrills and laughs.
In the show, Judy is newly hired with “Consolidated Industries.” Her first day is a little rocky, and it is because of this we meet Mr Hart, the office bigwig. He tells her that she is a “moron” for not being able to work the Xerox machine. After feeling humiliated and degraded as a woman, she is told to stay late and clean up the office. Judy begins to speak with her trainer, Violet, more frequently to get the hang of the office. Violet has been with the company for years and has watched many of her colleagues, colleagues that she trained, move up the ladder simply based off the fact that she is a woman in the office and therefore considered inferior compared to her male counterparts. Violet develops a great anger for Mr. Hart, her superior, another man she trained, who gave a male a position over her and tells her that customers prefer working with a man in the position she had been working hard for. Judy backs up Violet along with Doralee, the country singing boss’ secretary. Mr. Hart has been making advances on poor Doralee since the day she got the position. Doralee finds out that Mr. Hart has been telling others in the office that he and her are having an affair. She joins Judy and Violet in a late night drinking fest where they fantasize about ways they can get rid of their boss. The next day, Violet accidently puts rat poison in Mr. Harts coffee. She believes that she has killed him and because of that, talks about it in the ladies room (no better place to gossip, in my own opinion). Ross (Kimberly Wicker), the office hag with a major crush on the boss, overhears the girls talking and tells Mr. Hart. Judy, Violet and Doralee are called into Mr. Harts office and told that he is going to turn them in for attempted murder. The girls do the only thing three girls pushed to the edge can do….They take him hostage at gunpoint, force him into his own home, and hang him from the ceiling while he is tied up with a garage door opener. The girls realize that the office is now without a CEO. The girls decide that they are going to run the office and make it look like Mr. Hart is telling them what to do. The show unfolds and shows what an office can become when a woman’s touch is added to it.
There was no written mention of a sound designer in the program. The Empress Theatre has an interesting space, so sound issues during the show are common and not fixed easily. The microphones would blare or cut out mid sentence, becoming a serious mood killer during the bigger numbers or the more energy driven scenes. During the more quiet moments, you could hear whispering backstage and the occasional setting up of furniture. Luckily most of the performers who were mic’d seemed to understand that they couldn’t rely on their microphones and kept their energy up through their lines when the mics would cut out, and the only noise issue became the backstage noises.
Devin Johnson was the “Scenic Designer” for the show and did a very good job. The set was painted in swirls and random colors. They were very helpful to the scenes where there was a lot of lights and could easily fall in the background when we needed something isolated. Curtis Bailey gave us our lights. The lighting was a bit dark for most of the show. The only reason I believe it may have been too dark was because of the shadows that would cast on the actors faces. They would be very lit up, then the lights would change and I’d lose half of their faces. Some of the strongest moments for lighting was during the slower solos that would stay in one light the entire song. The set did not consist of a lot of furniture except for the office scene. There were some scene changes that slowed the show down or would not be completed in the amount of time that the music gave them. This delay slowed the show by only a few minutes, and in the end, was not a dealbreaker for the show.
The show was a bit slow to get into. The show started with very low energy, I believe it may have been because I was at the matinee performance. Earlier shows are always the hardest to get into. The show picked up but seemed to go in and out through the show with their energy and the syncopation of the cast changed based on who the principal singer was. “Backwoods Barbie” was a number that stood out at me with this as an example. Emalee Easton was an absolute amazing talent on that stage. Her character was funny, cute, and she had a voice that would make Dolly Parton proud. She would sing her song but when the chorus came out, it started to get a little messy vocally. The chorus sang a song in act two that was very good called “Change It.” If the ensemble performed every number as well as that one, the show would have been flawless music wise. Vocal Director, Rachael Rasmussen took on a very challenging show musically, and she should be very proud. Another moment of music that stood out to me was “I Just Might.” That song completely eliminated the question, “Can these girls pull off their parts?” All three girls handled the song beautifully.
The choreography of the show was fun. Corina Johnson and Jake Anderson played with dimensions and levels a lot in the numbers. This worked very well when there were only a few of the chorus members on stage at a time. The more people that got on stage, the more cluttered it got and the more noticeable it was that people weren’t able to dance their patterns. I stand by what I say, however, that the more energy the ensemble puts in the choreography and the music, the better the number would be and the less noticeable the mistakes would be.
“9 to 5” will make you smile and the music will keep you engaged all the way through. I truly enjoyed the show and would suggest putting it on your list of summer adventures. Some material may not be as “family friendly” for those of you who don’t know the show very well. It is a great show to take your date or for a group of friends to go out and see. However, the show does contain some language and sexual humor/innuendo. The only reason I mention that is because of some comments made after the scene where the girls got drunk (if only they knew what the script really calls for). You will enjoy the show. From the moment everyone wakes up for work, to the moment Judy sings “Get Out and Stay Out” (my favorite song of this show), you will have fun. The script writes itself. The Empress Theatre will be playing “9 to 5” every Monday,Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm until July 27th. Located on 9104 West 2700 South, Magna, UT 84044. you can order your tickets online at www.empresstheatre.com. or call in at 801-347-7373.
