Rhinestone glitterball of a show is perfect tribute to Dolly
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- 3 min read
9 to 5 The Musical at the Belgrade Theatre until Saturday 5 September.
Review by Amanda Burden
It was a bittersweet experience to sit down and watch 9 to 5 The Musical just weeks after losing Dolly Parton.
Bitter for obvious reasons. We’ve lost the pint-sized queen of country, and the world is a much, much worse place for it.
But sweet because this gloriously ridiculous, gloriously feminist, gloriously 1980s piece of musical theatre at the Belgrade proves that Dolly’s relevance will run through our culture like a seam of coal through a diamond.
And if you want proof, just look at the office environment in which the show is set. Somehow, despite being rooted in an era of enormous shoulder pads, enormous hair and apparently no functioning workplace policies whatsoever, 9 to 5 still feels horribly applicable.
Jade Marvin is Violet, the street-smart, cynical office manager relentlessly passed over for promotion. Kayla Carter is Judy, the nervous novice divorcee thrust into the world of work after her marriage breaks down. Tim Rogers is Mr Hart, the utterly useless, spectacularly misogynistic boss. And Karla Tracey steps up to the mammoth task of filling Dolly’s own behemoth-sized shoes as Doralee, the gun-toting, sexy secretary tasked with fending off the advances of her boss.
It’s basically a workplace hellscape populated by every 1980s office stereotype: the harridan PA, the sexy secretary, the office lush, the nervous new girl and the misogynist boss who appears to believe the company handbook is simply a list of women he is entitled to harass.
The premise is simple: three women, three very different lives, one deeply unpleasant boss, and a plan to teach him - and the patriarchy - a lesson.
What I love about 9 to 5 is that it never forgets to be funny. It doesn’t need to stand on a soapbox shouting FEMINISM. Its irrepressible one-liners do the talking. Doralee declares she is as popular as a “bastard at a family reunion”; office lush Margaret extols the virtues of the breakfast martini - vodka with a splash of milk and a Cheerio garnish.
There’s no doubt the entire cast can sing and dance, even if the stage translation of the iconic film doesn’t always hit the mark. In fairness, that was always going to be a tall order when the original 1980 cast contained several career-defining performances.
Rogers is superb in his stagecraft, capturing the repellent Mr Hart to a tee - but he never quite plumbs the depths mined by Dabney Coleman. He just looks too… nice. He’s more Gareth Southgate than Donald Trump.
That said, this is a rip-roaring rollercoaster of a show, with more spark than a Texan firecracker. And Dolly’s spoken prologue and epilogue hit differently now that we’ve just lost her.
You laugh. And then suddenly you think: Oh. She’s really gone. Then a cast member delivers a perfectly crafted Dolly-ism and suddenly you’re laughing all over again. Which actually feels perfect. Because Dolly never seemed interested in solemnity when joy was on the menu. And this show is silly, sharp, filthy and, above all, joyous.
A great big fizzy, lycra-clad, sequin-studded rhinestone-sprinkled glitterball of a show - the perfect Dolly legacy. And I hope somewhere, in the great big concert hall in the sky, she’s toasting it with a cheeky breakfast martini.
For tickets visit: https://www.belgrade.co.uk/events/9-to-5-the-musical/
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