9 To 5 The Musical Analysis

The live theatrical production I chose to see was 9 to 5 The Musical. The production was performed by Fayetteville Technical Community College’s very own Fine Arts Department. The musical is based on the film released by Fox in 1980. Collin Higgins adapted the film from the book 9 to 5 written by Patricia Resnick. It wasn’t until 2008 that the film was adapted to a theatrical production. The production was originally brought to broadway by Robert Greenbait and Dolly Parton wrote the lyrics and the music for the Musical. The run on broadway was very short but the production later toured in other countries around the around the world.
The musical was performed in the Cumberland Hall Auditorium at Fayetteville Technical Community College. It

was directed by the Chair of the Fine Arts Department at FTCC, Dennis J Johnson. The stage was rather small, which caused the cast members to occupy the same space as the audience. When new cast members were introduced during the production they had to walk in through the community doors instead of from the stage. This was the only disadvantage in the production, everything else was done flawlessly in my eyes
The design of the set, though humble worked really well when it came to emerging the audience into the life of the character’s on stage. There was one basic background shown throughout the production that acted as the base, but props were changed to fit each scene as needed. To make the magic happen the lights were turned all the way down so that the props could be changed. The transitions from scene to scene were very fast so the chances of audience members getting antsy were low.
The cast members all had great voices and were so believable that I didn’t want it to end.The major roles were made up from a majority of women. The major roles were Violet, Doralee, Judy and Franklin Hart.
Violet has a very bad attitude at the beginning of the play even during the opening number. Her face was scrunched up in anger and her movements were very stiff, throughout the play this gradually changed. By the closing number which coincidentally was the same as the opening her mannerisms had changed. In fact all the cast members looked happier and more radiant. Violet is a widowed, hardworking, single mother to her son. Her anger is not in vain, she’s just gotten passed up for a promotion that was awarded to a man that she trained because she’s a woman. She becomes the boss in the end when the head of the company comes for a random visit.
Doralee was known as the office fluezy in the opening of the play because of her boss’ open feelings of lust for her. She’s just a girl from the country who came to the big city to make it, with her husband Dwayne whom she’s happily married to. She refers to herself as a backwoods barbie, and clears her name of the affair by letting it be known to her coworkers that she doesn’t have any interest to in their boss.
Judy is a new divorcee whose husband has just left her for his secretary.

She is fairly new to the work world and has lied on her resume’ to get hired, and realizes that the job is harder than she first thought. All hope is not lost because Violet assures her that she can be trained. She ends up succeeding at the company and telling her husband she will not take him back after he comes back begging for her love again.
Other than trying to make it day to day at their company Frank is one of the things these three ladies have in common. Frank is their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot of a boss. He lusts after most of the women under his authority at the office but has taken a special liking to Doralee, who despises him. Though despicable as a man he has just been promoted to Head of that division. He has a loving wife who ends up divorcing him to be with one of his associates. He gets another promotion and has to leave the country, he is never to be heard from again.
The actresses and actors all seem to have an unimaginable sense of chemistry. My head knew they nothing more than castmates but my eyes saw that they had been working together for months and had created a true life bond. This was really shown when Violet, Doralee, and Judy ban together to kidnap Frank, in order to create a more pleasant work

space.
In addition to the wonderful acting the costumes fit the production. At first glance I thought maybe they were cheaply chosen but after thinking about it, the costumes changed along with the character’s attitudes. Violet wore dark clothing in the beginning but after Frank was “missing” her outfits became brighter. The other characters reflected this change as well, everyone’s clothing was sloppy and dark at first and by the time Violet was promoted the clothing was neat and bright. Except for Judy her clothing was always bright and neat as she wasn’t as affected by Frank’s antics.
I must admit I didn’t expect such a great performance from a school production. Though it may have been low budget the set was amazing and so was the believability of the actors on stage. When I left the auditorium that sunny afternoon I left in great spirits.