9 to 5: Why Didn't Dolly Parton win?

Just listened to "One of the Boys" on Sirius XM. What a great song. In fact, I love the score to 9 TO 5. Backwards Barbie, Get Out and Stay Out, just to name a few. I'm really surprised this show didn't have a better run. And I've certainly heard what, IMO, are lesser scores that have won Best Score. Dolly is truly one of the greatest song writers of our time, penning over 3,000 songs (including one of the best selling singles of all time). It's not fair to say she was 'robbed' of a Tony, but it's a shame she couldn't have been rewarded with one for this empowering creation.

She most certainly WAS robbed the year she lost the Oscar for Best Song (Travelin' Thru) to "It's Hard Out There For a Pimp". While she's still in elite company for being one of the only performers to have been nominated for every award in the EGOT circle (and won two of the four), our dear Dolly deserves to be wearing the EGOT crown.

Updated On: 4/20/20 at 08:02 PM

Amen to that!

Ironically, if she had written 'I Will Always Love You' about 20 years later for Hollywood and not for herself, she'd have one.

Why didn't she win over the masterpiece that is Next to Normal? C'mon.

9 to 5 was by far the weakest of the nominees for score, even Shrek had a few fantastic numbers.

The score to 9 to 5 is something that is constantly listened to in my world. It is light, frothy, and fun. It's not South Pacific or Gypsy, but it's a great listen.

I do remember hearing something that Stephen Oremus "wrote" a lot of the score, in the same way that Glen Kelly "wrote" the score to The Producers. Oremus is listed on IBDB as doing the following for 9 to 5:

• Incidental Music Arrangements by Stephen Oremus
• Additional Orchestrations by Stephen Oremus
• Musical Director: Stephen Oremus
• Conducted by Stephen Oremus
• Vocal arrangements by Stephen Oremus
• Keyboard 1: Stephen Oremus

Now, he also did the same jobs (minus incidental music) on Frozen, The Book of Mormon, and (all less conducting, incidental, and keyboard 1) for Kinky Boots, Wicked, Avenue Q, etc. So, to go by just that, I can see that he probably did a bit more, but when you boil it down, the score is classic Dolly. On her album, Better Day, she recorded 4 numbers from the show and they are done as if she was the original performer and they fit seamlessly with the rest of her album. I'm thinking that she wrote the songs, and Oremus added "Broadway seasoning" to them.

Also, I didn't love the new song...then again after listening to the London cast recording only twice, I am scraping to remember anything about it.

The stage version of "9 to 5" just isn't good.

ACL2006 said: "The stage version of "9 to 5" just isn't good."

And that's putting it nicely.

As others have said, even Tesori's score was better. If Parton was nominated it is because she was good for ratings, is all.

HeyMrMusic said: "In my book, Dolly should have two Oscars by now: one for “Travelin’ Thru” and one for “9 to 5.” She was robbed both times.

As much as I love the song "9 to 5," I can't say I agree it was robbed of an Oscar win. It lost to "Fame" which is not only an equally strong pop song but is an essential and indelible part of the film it was written for. Indeed, the scene in which the song "Fame" takes place is one of the most iconic moments of 1980s cinema.

Anyone else notice the clock in the 9 to 5 London logo is displaying 9:25? 9-2-5? That's how bored I am.

It seems to have been doing pretty well in London.