#1
Posted: 4/30/09 at 2:54pm
I saw 9 to 5 the Musical last night. I didn't see it fit to post my review in the "love thread" because I'm not entirely sure I've fallen in love with the show.
In searching my mind to think of a proper adjective or feeling to describe the production, I could only come up with one time after time: cute. In fact, the friends who I saw the show with when asked how they felt about it seemed to open their statements of opinion with that same adjective every single time. "It was cute, but..."
Individual Performances:
Allison Janney is truly wonderful. I was afraid that her voice would not suffice after the opening scenes but she really warmed up and settled into her character nicely. I found her voice in the marijuana trip to be especially pleasurable displaying a very pretty head voice that I wish she had more opportunity to show off. My only problem is that in creating the score around her specific vocal talents, the songs relied on the ensemble "backing" or even covering up many of Janney's notes which became distracting to me. I really felt she had a nice voice had they just given her the chance to sing in her proper range and without the obligatory backing. It reminded me of "Woman of the Year." Lauren Bacall did not have a pretty singing voice by any stretch of the imagination, but she had the gusto to give a thrilling performance and sell a song without being coddled by the rest of the ensemble. Janney's acting and comic timing was of course spot-on and she was terribly sweet at the stage door.
Stephanie J. Block brought her A-game vocally as she do. Her acting was perfect as the coy Judy and she really landed some great comedic moments. "Get Out and Stay Out" was one of the only times during the entire show I sat there mouth agape. I think that is what is missing in this show; there is nothing truly inspiring to latch on to..
Megan Hilty is giving a great performance but I feel never really has the chance to shine. For all intents and purposes she is doing a spot-on Dolly Parton impression and therefore shines in the country-heavy songs which Dolly would perform herself. The emulation is so accurate that it actually elicited laughter from the audience during her first set of dialogue. I personally chuckled throughout the show because I felt that at many points her Dolly impression had more shades of Stephanie Weir doing Anna Nicole Smith on MadTV (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUeFpmsq18 ) than Dolly.
I found Marc Kudish was largely wasted in his role albeit giving a sufficient performance. His songs were the ones I saw most fit to be cut so I don't have much more to say about him aside from him being in fine voice.
The Show Overall:
Having seen the film not too long ago and being a fan of Parton's work I felt as though this show succeeded in just adding more exposition to the plot already well executed in the movie version. I never found myself bored during the show (save during Marc's 2nd act song), but don?t feel that is criteria for great musical theater (not to say that I went in to the show expecting a musical theater masterpiece, but if I had paid $100+ for the ticket I'd have hoped for that).
I give kudos to Dolly for the achievement of writing her first full-length Broadway score and found it to be quite fitting with the themes and timbre of the show, but alas cannot single out any specific songs as being show-stoppers or songs I "left the theatre humming." The catchiest tune of the night was the opening and closing title song "9 to 5" (Mantello ain't no fool) which I hummed the entire time waiting interminably for Megan Hilty to come out of the stage door to sign my friend's poster. I could feel myself slightly rolling my eyes when another tune would begin because more times than not it felt as though the songs were put in out of obligation rather than out of inspiration (or needing language beyond words to express an idea or feeling)- although many times tapping my foot along at the song's conclusion.
The reason I don't think I fell in love entirely with this show or its score would be how formulaic the entire production felt to me. I'm sure this can be said for many screen to stage transfers, but it felt as though the movie was put on stage,
"Pause" was pressed, a song was inserted, and then we resumed. A friend compared it to "The Wedding Singer" which I at first balked at considering I really did not enjoy TWS, but as I look back they used a lot of the same mechanisms to transfer the films to stage. I think what rubbed me the wrong way about TWS was the inability to get the rights to the amazing 80's score of the film and therefore creating "Broadway" versions which paled in comparison. That is of course not an issue here as "9 to 5" was not a musical film.
Choreography deserves its own personal shout-out, as well as set design and lighting which were all extremely well done. The sets were well thought-out and made good use of the very large stage and lighting was able to capture the varying moods of the show perfectly. For one of the first times I felt as though the projections were not a detracting factor in this show as they have been in so many lately. Being in the mezzanine I had the advantage of seeing the actual floor of the stage and the many patterns created by the varying lights and set pieces that cast shadows across it which made for amazing visuals throughout. Costumes were fine but were virtually carbon copies of the film's so not too much to say in that department.
The subject of longevity came up whilst waiting at the stage door for Hilty. I can certainly picture replacements that would work well in the varying roles (Christine Baranski for Violet comes to mind), but I think it is anyone's guess how long it will actually run. In my heart of hearts, I would say that it doesn't need to run 10 years nor does it have the strong backbone of material to do so, but judging by the number of Drama Desk nominations and what may be shining reviews coming out tonight that very well may happen. I will put the requisite "I wouldn't wish actors out of jobs" statement here, but I would wish better material for the musical theater debut of a gem like Janney or a show that makes people really say "Wow!" and see Block and Hilty for their amazing talents and allow them to originate roles (as in not adapted from a film) in something new but can say with some certainty that this show is not any of those things. Cute, but no cigar.
In searching my mind to think of a proper adjective or feeling to describe the production, I could only come up with one time after time: cute. In fact, the friends who I saw the show with when asked how they felt about it seemed to open their statements of opinion with that same adjective every single time. "It was cute, but..."
Individual Performances:
Allison Janney is truly wonderful. I was afraid that her voice would not suffice after the opening scenes but she really warmed up and settled into her character nicely. I found her voice in the marijuana trip to be especially pleasurable displaying a very pretty head voice that I wish she had more opportunity to show off. My only problem is that in creating the score around her specific vocal talents, the songs relied on the ensemble "backing" or even covering up many of Janney's notes which became distracting to me. I really felt she had a nice voice had they just given her the chance to sing in her proper range and without the obligatory backing. It reminded me of "Woman of the Year." Lauren Bacall did not have a pretty singing voice by any stretch of the imagination, but she had the gusto to give a thrilling performance and sell a song without being coddled by the rest of the ensemble. Janney's acting and comic timing was of course spot-on and she was terribly sweet at the stage door.
Stephanie J. Block brought her A-game vocally as she do. Her acting was perfect as the coy Judy and she really landed some great comedic moments. "Get Out and Stay Out" was one of the only times during the entire show I sat there mouth agape. I think that is what is missing in this show; there is nothing truly inspiring to latch on to..
Megan Hilty is giving a great performance but I feel never really has the chance to shine. For all intents and purposes she is doing a spot-on Dolly Parton impression and therefore shines in the country-heavy songs which Dolly would perform herself. The emulation is so accurate that it actually elicited laughter from the audience during her first set of dialogue. I personally chuckled throughout the show because I felt that at many points her Dolly impression had more shades of Stephanie Weir doing Anna Nicole Smith on MadTV (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjUeFpmsq18 ) than Dolly.
I found Marc Kudish was largely wasted in his role albeit giving a sufficient performance. His songs were the ones I saw most fit to be cut so I don't have much more to say about him aside from him being in fine voice.
The Show Overall:
Having seen the film not too long ago and being a fan of Parton's work I felt as though this show succeeded in just adding more exposition to the plot already well executed in the movie version. I never found myself bored during the show (save during Marc's 2nd act song), but don?t feel that is criteria for great musical theater (not to say that I went in to the show expecting a musical theater masterpiece, but if I had paid $100+ for the ticket I'd have hoped for that).
I give kudos to Dolly for the achievement of writing her first full-length Broadway score and found it to be quite fitting with the themes and timbre of the show, but alas cannot single out any specific songs as being show-stoppers or songs I "left the theatre humming." The catchiest tune of the night was the opening and closing title song "9 to 5" (Mantello ain't no fool) which I hummed the entire time waiting interminably for Megan Hilty to come out of the stage door to sign my friend's poster. I could feel myself slightly rolling my eyes when another tune would begin because more times than not it felt as though the songs were put in out of obligation rather than out of inspiration (or needing language beyond words to express an idea or feeling)- although many times tapping my foot along at the song's conclusion.
The reason I don't think I fell in love entirely with this show or its score would be how formulaic the entire production felt to me. I'm sure this can be said for many screen to stage transfers, but it felt as though the movie was put on stage,
"Pause" was pressed, a song was inserted, and then we resumed. A friend compared it to "The Wedding Singer" which I at first balked at considering I really did not enjoy TWS, but as I look back they used a lot of the same mechanisms to transfer the films to stage. I think what rubbed me the wrong way about TWS was the inability to get the rights to the amazing 80's score of the film and therefore creating "Broadway" versions which paled in comparison. That is of course not an issue here as "9 to 5" was not a musical film.
Choreography deserves its own personal shout-out, as well as set design and lighting which were all extremely well done. The sets were well thought-out and made good use of the very large stage and lighting was able to capture the varying moods of the show perfectly. For one of the first times I felt as though the projections were not a detracting factor in this show as they have been in so many lately. Being in the mezzanine I had the advantage of seeing the actual floor of the stage and the many patterns created by the varying lights and set pieces that cast shadows across it which made for amazing visuals throughout. Costumes were fine but were virtually carbon copies of the film's so not too much to say in that department.
The subject of longevity came up whilst waiting at the stage door for Hilty. I can certainly picture replacements that would work well in the varying roles (Christine Baranski for Violet comes to mind), but I think it is anyone's guess how long it will actually run. In my heart of hearts, I would say that it doesn't need to run 10 years nor does it have the strong backbone of material to do so, but judging by the number of Drama Desk nominations and what may be shining reviews coming out tonight that very well may happen. I will put the requisite "I wouldn't wish actors out of jobs" statement here, but I would wish better material for the musical theater debut of a gem like Janney or a show that makes people really say "Wow!" and see Block and Hilty for their amazing talents and allow them to originate roles (as in not adapted from a film) in something new but can say with some certainty that this show is not any of those things. Cute, but no cigar.
Updated On: 4/30/09 at 02:54 PM
