After a long quarter of auditions and rehearsals, UCI Drama students ended their production of “9 to 5: The Musical” on Nov. 24.
Directed by Myrona DeLaney, “9 to 5: The Musical” somehow finds humor in the sexism of the 1970s workplace by following the increasingly chaotic work lives of recently divorced Judy Bernly (Ruby Lapeyre), ambitious yet hardened manager Violet Newstead (Sloane Ptashek) and bright and spunky Doralee Rhodes (Ashlyn Filippone).
The musical originally began as “9 to 5,” a film directed by Colin Higgins. Though not a musical, the film included the hit song “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton, who wrote all of the music for “9 to 5: The Musical.”
The audience is introduced to Violet and Judy as Judy begins her first day of work, following a full ensemble performance of “9 to 5.” Doralee is introduced next as the secretary of Consolidated Industries President Franklin Hart Jr. (Drew Downs). After an impassioned and hilarious solo from Downs of “Here for You” where Hart confesses his love for Doralee to himself, the audience learns of his misogynistic perceptions of not only Doralee but of all the women in his workplace.
The women are constantly at the mercy of Hart’s sexism. As Doralee is subjected to his sexual harassment, Violet is denied a top manager position in lieu of a male junior and Judy is generally overworked, the three dream up scenarios of how they might kill Hart in a marijuana-induced stupor.
The fantasies begin with Judy imagining herself as a coercive femme fatale who threatens to shoot Hart in “The Dance O’ Death.” Lapeyre’s rendition of the song perfectly reconciles the seductive assassin that Judy imagines herself as, alongside her true awkward and orthodox nature.
Filippone’s version of “Cowgirl’s Revenge” follows an impressive solo of “Backwoods Barbie” from earlier in the musical. While singing about how she is more than just her looks, Filippone captures Doralee’s tender sadness of being rejected by the other girls she works with. Using the same country genre from “Backwoods Barbie” to fight back against Hart’s objectification, Doralee in “Cowgirl’s Revenge” turns a murder into a shindig as she ties Hart up with a lasso while dancing and yodeling.
The last fantasy is Violet’s as she imagines herself poisoning Hart’s cup of coffee in “Potion Notion.” Juxtaposing her actions as she pours cleaning solutions into Hart’s cup, Violet’s solo is upbeat and innocent — picturing her as the perfect housewife Hart wants her to be. Ptashek flawlessly portrays Violet as both the dry-humored manager in real life and the woman slowly driven mad by Hart in fantasy at the same time.
Their fantasies almost become reality as Violet accidentally poisons Hart’s coffee with rat poison and the three get caught up in a kidnapping plot to keep Hart quiet. Hart doesn’t die, so the three keep him locked up at home while they figure out a way to blackmail him into silence. Roz Keith (Kaitlin Miranda), another secretary of Hart’s, overhears their conversation and alerts Hart. Miranda performs a lively performance of “Heart To Hart,” where she sings of her love for Hart. The song is similar to “Here For You” as both Roz and Hart sing of their undying love, yet the comical sexuality of Miranda’s performance as she portrays the fangirl persona of Roz revives the obsessive love trope for the audience.
When the audience is brought back to the farcical kidnapping of Hart following Roz’s declaration of love, it’s at Hart’s home where we see the most empowering and beautiful solo of the whole musical from Lapeyre in “Get Out and Stay Out.” The song features an argument between Judy and her ex-husband, who assumes that Judy is at Hart’s to meet with another man. Lapeyre’s beautiful solo is the first time we see Judy broken down into her truest parts, in her nightgown with the lights turned low, as she sings of how she no longer needs her ex-husband or any man as she’s found herself in her work. Lapeyre moves the audience with her emotional control over Judy’s character as she is finally able to break from her portrayal as a nervous newbie as she does in “The Dance O’ Death.”
Ptashek, a fourth-year music theatre major, says that one of the hardest parts of playing Violet is portraying an older character. While Ptashek felt she could relate to Violet’s coarse personality and dry humor, she worried about how to be seen as a woman more than 10 years her senior.
“So when I got the part, I was nervous because she’s supposed to be older than both of them. She’s supposed to be like 30 to 40. I’m not 30, I’m 21,” Ptashek told New University. “So I was nervous because I look pretty similar in age to Ashlyn and Ruby, who played Doralee and Judy respectively. And my love interest, the guy who played [Joe is named Nathan], we’re also in the same year.”
However, as she rehearsed and learned more about Violet’s character, Ptashek realized that looking older did not matter as long as she carried the confidence Violet had.
“I realized that I didn’t have to look older,” Ptashek said. “It was the way that I carried myself and the way I spoke to people around me and the confidence that I had.”
As the musical deals with themes of sexism and misogyny, Ptashek said that her feminist identity allows her to truly resonate with the show’s themes, using Violet’s last monologue as an example.
“She lists all these things that she does,” she said. “The little guy cooks and coaches ball and balances budgets and squeezes a dollar as far as it can go and works her ass off. And if that doesn’t qualify her to be seen and heard and respected, well, what does? And to me, that was one of the most powerful lines in the show because she is just fed up.”
While UCI Drama’s “9 to 5: The Musical” has already closed, the department will continue to feature many more future events and productions that can be found on the CTSA Drama Department’s website.
Corinna Chin is an Arts & Entertainment Staff Writer. She can be reached at corinnac@uci.edu.
Edited by Lillian Dunn and Bianca Marroquin