9 to 5
Breakthrough Theatre Company, Winter Park, Florida • September 20, 2024
Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton
Directed by Wade Hair, Musical Direction by Angelo Cotta
Starring Felicia Melcer, Cameron Cartagena, Krys Arvelo, Oliver Merrill
by Carl F. Gauze
What did sexism ever do for us? That’s pretty much the story here, and it’s a ton of fun.
It’s the 1980s, and the office is run like it was 1956. Franklin Hart, Jr. (Merrill) jokes with the guys and hits on the women. Morale is low, productivity is ill-defined, and audits unheard of. The women are harassed, and senior secretary Violet (Melcer) tries to keep the lid on things while covering for Franks’s dalliances. Violet plays the ultimate martyr: doing the dirty work for dirt wages and even less respect. Morale is low, productivity ill-defined, and the real boss distant in an upper cloud-filled executive suite. Finally, things get so bad that the women, led by Violet, kidnap Frank and hold him hostage. While he stews in a bondage rig, the kidnappers install flex time, on-site child care, and fair performance reviews. Amazingly, the world fails to collapse into the singularity.
This buys time, and they make the workplace much nicer and more productive. Larry Sallings appears as the CEO, awards all the good guys, and ships now hapless Franklin to a third world war zone. Vengeance is ours, sayeth the women.
It’s a lengthy show, with lots of great Dolly Parton tunes to grease the skids. This set is embellished by dozens of clocks, reminding us we are paid by the minute, not the product. Melcer’s Violet provides the strong pillar here: back woods smart, urban savvy, and packed with enough chutzpa for an entire bris. Her sidekicks Doralee (Cartagena) and Judy (Arvelo) follow her lead. When it’s time to tie up the boss, they use invisible cable ties and imaginary duct tape. Staging the famous “garage door opener” bondage scene in the film version is technically complex and off tonight’s budget. (n.b. “Garage door bondage scene” may well be the weirdest phrase I ever typed.) The show is fun and fast, the villain is evil (mostly). The trio of greed, pride, and mismanagement is universal and well-known if you work in a cubicle farm. The moral of “treat your staff with respect and reasonable work dress codes” is much more pervasive today than when Dolly first penned this hit, but still holds true.
Set your alarm clock for fun, and punch in to see this great show!
