9 to 5, opening later this month in Rabun County, is not just a musical, though it’s a good one; the rollicking musical will amuse and entertain its audiences while giving them a workplace problem or two to ponder, its performers say.
Dolly Parton’s memorable music and lyrics will be on stage later this month and next, as the show comes to the intimate theater in Dillard operated by the North Georgia Community Players, just south of the Georgia/North Carolina border.
“This is a very entertaining show,” veteran director Rebecca Bilbrey says, “with great songs by Dolly and a cast I love. But it also packs a punch, as it depicts what a workplace is like for women—then, in 1980 (when the successful cult-favorite movie came out), and still today.”
Art imitates life
The story revolves around three women who work in Consolidated Industries, a large New York conglomerate. They are all forced to endure abuse from their nasty boss, Franklin Hart, in different ways. His secretary, Doralee, the character originated in film by Parton herself, is the target of incessant sexual harassment by Frank. Another of the lead women, Violet, is the long-suffering deputy who has all the ideas for the business but gets none of the credit. And Judy, new to the company (and newly divorced from a cheating husband) must learn her way around the business world after years as a homemaker. She quickly bonds with the other two. Madness ensues as the trio seeks to exact revenge on the lecherous and dangerous Frank, played by Matthew Johnson, singing all the while,
Bilbrey pointedly says she sees the show as an entertaining vehicle with a serious undercurrent, citing her own painful work history.
“I was 19, in my first receptionist job. My boss, Steven, had a jewelry business in Jacksonville (Florida), and I sat outside his office, answering phones and making appointments…one day I got a speeding ticket, and I didn’t have the money to pay it, so I asked him for an advance on my salary,” she recounts. “He said he’d consider it, ‘depending on what you wear to work tomorrow.’ He meant it.’”
“I feel bad,” Bilbrey says, “but I went and did it; I wore the sexiest thing I could find, and he gave me the money. I just fell into what was expected of a woman. I felt like I didn’t have a choice.’”
Bilbrey said she told the entire cast her story at the first rehearsal so they would understand that ‘that this is all real.’”
The ‘hardest character I’ve ever done’
Quashona Antoine, a mainstay of the Rabun-based theater company, is doing double duty as the show’s musical director and one of its stars. She plays Judy (the role played by Jane Fonda on screen). Antoine, an Atlantic City, N.J. native, lives in Franklin and teaches music at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee school, just a mile away from the theater in Dillard City Hall.
Antoine has a professionally skilled voice, which she most recently showed off in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. In 9 to 5, she goes deeper, singing out her rage and newfound independence from her ex in “Get Out and Stay Out,” culminating in a moving lyric that her director, Bilbrey, called a showstopper:
Get out and stay out, I’ve finally had enough
Don’t kiss me on your way out, it wouldn’t move me much
You used me, abused me, you cheated and you lied
So get out and stay out, I’m taking back my life
Antoine says she’s blessedly never suffered what the characters do.
“All my work experiences have been pretty good,” she says. But the role does push Antoine in other ways. “She’s the hardest character I’ve ever done. She has this transformation, from meek and mild to more assertive and empowered.” Antoine says with a chuckle that, in real life, she’s closer to the latter Judy than the early one.
Dolly-inspired
Sara Jones plays Doralee, the role created by Dolly Parton herself in the movie, and she loves playing off the remembered role of the singer/actress, whom she calls an “inspiration.” She says audiences will get a kick out of “Around Here,” a number that illustrates in song and dance just what the workday looks like at Consolidated (hint: everyone is VERY BUSY).
Jones also remarks that the sexual harassment problem depicted in the show remains distressingly current. A 20-year-old substitute teacher and cartoon designer, she says, “I’ve gotten a few comments about my looks throughout my life; I know how that can make a girl feel about herself.”
Up to the challenge
M.C. Phillips plays the role created by another comic icon, Lily Tomlin.
“I certainly love telling people that I get to play that role,” Phillips says. “My dad asked if I was going to be as funny as she is; I’m very excited for the challenge of making people laugh a lot!”
Phillips, a librarian at Rabun Gap School, is pleased to report she’s never been sexually harassed along the lines of the show’s horrible boss, but “my peers at former jobs certainly have.” In general, she finds a lot of workplace culture problematic. “Anytime women are required to wear heels and skirts under the guise of appearing ‘more professional,’ you are seeing a societal acceptance of the very issue the show addresses. And the pay gap to which women are still subjected is still alarmingly evident,” Phillips adds.
Among the many upbeat songs in 9 to 5, Phillips may like “One of the Boys” the best. She sings about how she is now a hard-hitter, just like the male employees (who nevertheless seem to rank above the women). “I’m tap-dancing and singing and trying not to fall over from exhaustion,” Phillips exults. “It’s such a fun number!”
Performance dates and tickets
9 to 5 runs Friday-Sunday for three consecutive weekends: March 21-23, March 28-30, and April 4-6. The Friday and Saturday performances are at 7 p.m. except for Friday, April 4th, when the show is at 7:30.
The Sunday matinees are all at 3 p.m.
The performances are at the Dillard Playhouse in the historic Old Dillard School House (which also houses Dillard City Hall). You may purchase tickets online at ngcommunityplayers.com or by phone at (706) 212-2500.
