Music Theatre Wichita’s ‘9 to 5’ cast, directors look for truth in musical
Like the 1980 film that inspired it, Music Theatre Wichita’s “9 to 5” is set in the office world of the late 1970s, where many male bosses saw their female secretaries as everything from sexual conquests to errand-running lackeys.
A lot has changed in the four-and-a-half decades since then but, as the cast of MTW agrees, not everything.
“It’s not super far away from things that have happened today,” said Kathryn Adeline, who plays the Dolly Parton role of Doralee. “The circumstances are still current.”
“The alternative is to not tell the story and gloss over it,” said Amanda Lea LaVergne, who plays Jane Fonda’s role, Judy. “Those of us who have a little experience in the workplace are here to remind them what they’re entitled to speak up about.”
“I feel like I can speak up for the cause of all of these women,” said Soara-Joye Ross, who plays the Lily Tomlin part of Violet. “There’s still a lot of mess in the world’s offices and the work environment.”
The cast members for “9 to 5,” which opens later this week, were interviewed midway through their first week of rehearsals.
Although none of the cast members or the creatives behind the scenes – with the exception of music director Thomas W. Douglas, who was at the helm for the 2012 MTW version – have had experience with “9 to 5,” LaVergne comes the closest.
She was hired to play Judy in a national tour of “9 to 5” in 2010 but had to choose between that role and part in another movie-turned-musical, “Bring It On.” She chose the latter – although she points out she did get to meet Parton while on tour with “Bring It On.”
“The thing I like so much about Judy is that she brings a reality for so many women in general, but then brings the softness and determination that can coexist in one person,” LaVergne said. “It’s a quiet strength and you don’t see that represented on the stage. I love the gentleness she approaches and the hope she brings.”
Adeline, who graduated from Oklahoma City University this spring, impressed artistic director Brian J. Marcum at auditions with her Southern accent and earnest delivery.
“People expect to see the essence of Dolly, but I’m still trying to make it my own,” the Georgia native said. “It’s a balance but it’s a fun journey to try to balance the character and balance Dolly and put my own stamp on it.”
Ross, who has Broadway credits including “Hadestown” and “Les Miserables,” believes she is the first Black woman to play the role of Violet, adding to the list of her other color-blind casting parts.
“I am in love with Violet Newsted,” she said. “She reminds me of so many women, including myself, who are trying to get ahead and are deterred from getting as far as they want to go. … At the end, she gets exactly what she wants. She’s a powerful woman and it’s really an honor to play her.”
With a score written by Parton that built upon her title song from the “9 to 5” soundtrack, the musical opened on Broadway in 2009 with Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block and Megan Hilty, but lasted just over four months. It has been a popular title for theaters across the country, as Parton’s iconic status continues to skyrocket.
“The score is really a lot of fun,” said Thomas, a former teacher of Hilty. “Dolly wrote all these songs and they’re really cool. Some of the ballads are slow, almost a Gospel feel and some country-pop.”
“It was much shorter-lived than it should have been,” director-choreographer Eric Sciotto said.
Ross said the musical speaks the truth to women’s role in the workplace, then and now.
“There is empowerment, and what woman doesn’t want to be empowered? What is there not to love?” she said. “It’s very disappointing it was so short-lived on Broadway. I am inspired by these women. She reminds me of myself so much. I’m very inspired by Lily Tomlin and Allison Janney. They’ve fueled my performance.”
LaVergne said she approached the role of Judy differently than she did in 2010, when she was offered the touring part.
“I found new colors and new intent as a woman who’s been on the planet 14 years longer. You learn the text, but you breathe in the white,” she said. “I think ‘9 to 5’ has survived because we want them to win. We want these women to win. We want to love them. We love them the second the alarm goes off (in the titular, opening number). Not every show has that ability, where you’re rooting for them from the moment the curtain goes up. They (the audience) know what the story is, and they want to see the women on stage succeed.”
After Marcum made the casting decisions, Sciotto sent them a link to a 2019 documentary on the 9-to-5 Movement, which inspired the film comedy.
“I had done research on that time period, but the documentary was super informative and helpful,” Adeline said. “It was cool to see all the women who had gone before in this movement and made this change.”
Actor Matt Allen, who plays boss Frankin Hart Jr., recalled watching the movie “on a loop” with his sister in the early ‘80s, as his family just got cable. He said he relishes the role played by actor Dabney Coleman, who died last month.
“The movie is so imprinted in my brain that even when I’m doing scenes with these amazing ladies here, I’m having visions of the movie and whether I want to or not, I’m going to do some Dabney-isms,” he said. “The part is uncomfortable, but we’re taking the part and making it work. We hope it’s also a teaching moment.”
Veteran actresses Ross and LaVergne say they’ve noticed changes in the workplace even in the theatrical world, where there are new protections for a woman changing clothes in a costume room and intimacy coordinators hired to choreograph kissing or lovemaking scenes.
“Soara-Joye and I have a responsibility leading this cast as women who’ve had experience to remind women to speak up and they have a safe place and a power to speak up,” LaVergne said. “It won’t be a different feeling anymore; it’ll be the norm.”
Sciotto, who directed last year’s “Rock of Ages” for MTW and choreographed “The Wizard of Oz” the year before that, said some versions of “9 to 5” want to make light of the struggle faced by the heroines.
The script, which he said is very loyal to the movie, has several fantasy sequences that provide respites from the reality.
“Some productions of this want to tamp that down, so it’s quote-more palatable or to excuse everyone. But I really don’t want that or believe that. We’re trying to make the threat very real. It makes it all better. It’s not a joke, we’re not kidding,” he said. “The world is very real and very ugly, so it has to be imperative and threatening and immediate to drive these otherwise normal people to do these very absurd acts.”
‘9 TO 5’ BY MUSIC THEATRE WICHITA
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, June 12-13; 8 p.m. Friday, June 14; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, June 15; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 16
Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas
Tickets: $36-$76, from mtwichita.org, 316-265-3107 or the Century II box office
