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9 to 5: the Musical at the Empress Theatre in Magna
Saturday afternoon,
I had the opportunity to visit The Empress Theatre in Magna. It was
there, that I got to watch “9 to 5: The Musical.” This musical was short
lived on broadway, opening in April of 2009 and closed on Broadway
September of 2009. This show got a lot of mixed reviews while it was on
Broadway, however it got 4 Tony Award nominations. The music was written
by Dolly Parton, who actually appeared in the 1980’s film that this
musical was based off. The story is a rip roarin’ adventure that brings
three girls from three different worlds together for one simple thing….
to get rid of Mr. Hart (Matthew Green), their “lying, hypocritical,
sexist, egotistical boss.” This man is responsible for making everyone’s
life in the office a living hell. The show is full of great music and
scenes that make you fall in love with the friendship that develops with
Violet (Amy Livingston Metler), the under-appreciated employee and
single mother, Doralee (Emalee Easton), the sexy secretary that all the
men in the office want picking up their pens, and Judy (Carrie Johnson),
the newbie in the office who quickly learns that sometimes, a man is
the last thing you need in your life. These girls, a love-sick jr
accountant, a nosey office hag, and a cheating husband are the
ingredients needed to make a show full of potential thrills and laughs.
In
the show, Judy is newly hired with “Consolidated Industries.” Her first
day is a little rocky, and it is because of this we meet Mr Hart, the
office bigwig. He tells her that she is a “moron” for not being able to
work the Xerox machine. After feeling humiliated and degraded as a
woman, she is told to stay late and clean up the office. Judy begins to
speak with her trainer, Violet, more frequently to get the hang of the
office. Violet has been with the company for years and has watched many
of her colleagues, colleagues that she trained, move up the ladder
simply based off the fact that she is a woman in the office and
therefore considered inferior compared to her male counterparts. Violet
develops a great anger for Mr. Hart, her superior, another man she
trained, who gave a male a position over her and tells her that
customers prefer working with a man in the position she had been working
hard for. Judy backs up Violet along with Doralee, the country singing
boss’ secretary. Mr. Hart has been making advances on poor Doralee since
the day she got the position. Doralee finds out that Mr. Hart has been
telling others in the office that he and her are having an affair. She
joins Judy and Violet in a late night drinking fest where they fantasize
about ways they can get rid of their boss. The next day, Violet
accidently puts rat poison in Mr. Harts coffee. She believes that she
has killed him and because of that, talks about it in the ladies room
(no better place to gossip, in my own opinion). Ross (Kimberly Wicker),
the office hag with a major crush on the boss, overhears the girls
talking and tells Mr. Hart. Judy, Violet and Doralee are called into Mr.
Harts office and told that he is going to turn them in for attempted
murder. The girls do the only thing three girls pushed to the edge can
do….They take him hostage at gunpoint, force him into his own home, and
hang him from the ceiling while he is tied up with a garage door
opener. The girls realize that the office is now without a CEO. The
girls decide that they are going to run the office and make it look like
Mr. Hart is telling them what to do. The show unfolds and shows what an
office can become when a woman’s touch is added to it.
There
was no written mention of a sound designer in the program. The Empress
Theatre has an interesting space, so sound issues during the show are
common and not fixed easily. The microphones would blare or cut out mid
sentence, becoming a serious mood killer during the bigger numbers or
the more energy driven scenes. During the more quiet moments, you could
hear whispering backstage and the occasional setting up of furniture.
Luckily most of the performers who were mic’d seemed to understand that
they couldn’t rely on their microphones and kept their energy up through
their lines when the mics would cut out, and the only noise issue
became the backstage noises.
Devin Johnson was the “Scenic Designer” for the show and
did a very good job. The set was painted in swirls and random colors.
They were very helpful to the scenes where there was a lot of lights and
could easily fall in the background when we needed something isolated.
Curtis Bailey gave us our lights. The lighting was a bit dark for most
of the show. The only reason I believe it may have been too dark was
because of the shadows that would cast on the actors faces. They would
be very lit up, then the lights would change and I’d lose half of their
faces. Some of the strongest moments for lighting was during the slower
solos that would stay in one light the entire song. The set did not
consist of a lot of furniture except for the office scene. There were
some scene changes that slowed the show down or would not be completed
in the amount of time that the music gave them. This delay slowed the
show by only a few minutes, and in the end, was not a dealbreaker for
the show.
The show was a bit slow to get into. The show started with
very low energy, I believe it may have been because I was at the matinee
performance. Earlier shows are always the hardest to get into. The show
picked up but seemed to go in and out through the show with their
energy and the syncopation of the cast changed based on who the
principal singer was. “Backwoods Barbie” was a number that stood out at
me with this as an example. Emalee Easton was an absolute amazing talent
on that stage. Her character was funny, cute, and she had a voice that
would make Dolly Parton proud. She would sing her song but when the
chorus came out, it started to get a little messy vocally. The chorus
sang a song in act two that was very good called “Change It.” If the
ensemble performed every number as well as that one, the show would have
been flawless music wise. Vocal Director, Rachael Rasmussen took on a
very challenging show musically, and she should be very proud. Another
moment of music that stood out to me was “I Just Might.” That song
completely eliminated the question, “Can these girls pull off their
parts?” All three girls handled the song beautifully.
The choreography of the show was fun. Corina Johnson and
Jake Anderson played with dimensions and levels a lot in the numbers.
This worked very well when there were only a few of the chorus members
on stage at a time. The more people that got on stage, the more
cluttered it got and the more noticeable it was that people weren’t able
to dance their patterns. I stand by what I say, however, that the more
energy the ensemble puts in the choreography and the music, the better
the number would be and the less noticeable the mistakes would be.
“9 to 5” will make you smile and the music will keep you
engaged all the way through. I truly enjoyed the show and would suggest
putting it on your list of summer adventures. Some material may not be
as “family friendly” for those of you who don’t know the show very well.
It is a great show to take your date or for a group of friends to go
out and see. However, the show does contain some language and sexual
humor/innuendo. The only reason I mention that is because of some
comments made after the scene where the girls got drunk (if only they
knew what the script really calls for). You will enjoy the show. From
the moment everyone wakes up for work, to the moment Judy sings “Get Out
and Stay Out” (my favorite song of this show), you will have fun. The
script writes itself. The Empress Theatre will be playing “9 to 5”
every Monday,Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm until July 27th. Located on
9104 West 2700 South, Magna, UT 84044. you can order your tickets online
at www.empresstheatre.com. or call in at 801-347-7373.
“Annie” at Syracuse High School
“Annie” is
a show that I think everyone has had touch their lives in one way or
another. Whether it be your first play you did as a little girl, or it
might be that you know every word of “Tomorrow,” Annie has somehow made
it into the hearts of millions through the years. The show opened on
Broadway in 1977 and ran for nearly six years. The show is about a
little orphan girl who has lost her parents. Annie lives in 1933 New
York during the great depression.This red headed, optimistic, orphan
know-it-all finds herself on the adventure of a lifetime when Oliver
Warbucks, a successful billionaire, invites her to live with him for two
weeks during the Christmas holiday. Ms. Hannigan is the woman in charge
of all the orphans of this show. She is very jealous that Annie gets to
live a life of abundance and luxury after Oliver Warbucks sends his
secretary, Grace, to officially adopt Annie. It just so happens that
Rooster Hannigan, Ms. Hannigan’s brother, is in town with his new found
floozy, Lily St. Regis. Rooster is a con who believes that Annie is the
key to becoming rich and if the three can kidnap Annie from Mr.
Warbucks, they can use her to become rich beyond their wildest dreams.
When
it comes to the ending, it really depends on which version you saw. The
ending of this show has been tweaked for film. Rooster and Lily dress
up as an older married couple and, with the help of Ms. Hannigan,
convince everyone that they are her real parents. Oliver Warbucks had
sent the FBI to find Annie’s parents earlier in the show and discovers
that they have both passed away. Seeing through this, he invites Ms.
Hannigan and the orphans over for christmas along with Annie’s “mom” and
“dad.” It is there that he has the three apprehended and the musical
ends happily with Annie adopted by Warbucks and all the orphans never
having to worry about their caretaker again.
I
was very fortunate to attend the final dress rehearsal of this
production. I have never attended a show in Syracuse. The high school
that this show was performed at was HUGE. The cast consisted of (I’m not
too far off by this) about one hundred people. This show also has a
live orchestra playing the show. These aspects are huge concerns when
attending community theatre productions just because of the size and
skill needed. I was more than impressed once the orchestra started to
play and the orchestra really showed their chops. They were more than
exceptional when playing the music of the show and I was very impressed
to hear a live band that together and in tune. The show started with
little Molly (Anna Snarr) having a nightmare. It’s here that we meet
Annie (London Krey). London was a very spunky and optimistic little
girl. She seemed a little too old to be playing the role of Annie, but
for all I know she may have just hit a growth spurt. I honestly think
the only thing I would really critique with her is when London would get
very excited and then she would talk very fast. The words were hard to
understand at those moments, but other than that, they were very clear
and easily heard. I wasn’t sure what I felt with London when she would
perform the songs. I really enjoyed her voice and think that this little
girl has A LOT of potential when it comes to future performances in her
coming of age. I didn’t like some of the choices in her vocal
positioning or her telling the story of the song. However, an actor can
be blamed for only so much in that aspect as it is also the job of the
creative staff to make sure that these things are clean and without
error. That being said, London Krey is an excellent Annie who will be
enjoyed by the audience. After singing “Maybe,” we meet Ms. Hannigan
(Rachel Child). Rachel was a Hannigan from hell. She was very mean and
very abusive to the kids. Totally fake in every way to anyone else. Good
job, Rachel. She played Ms. Hannigan very New York, abusive husband in a
tank top, type of lady. The physical aspect of her with the girls made
me nervous at times just because of how quick it happened. Just because
we are talking about characters, I’d like to mention one woman in
particular; Melanie Rollins played the part of Grace in this production
of Annie. Grace, for those of you who don’t know, is the secretary of
Oliver Warbucks and becomes the mother figure of our show. Melanie could
sing, she was very talented and one of the standouts vocally among the
adult cast. I was very sad that I couldn’t hear her. It being a final
tech rehearsal, I would not have marked it against them if they had
stopped the performance just to fix her mic. I encourage it honestly,
and feel it would have been worth the few minutes wait to hear her voice
clearly through the audience.
Before
I get too ahead of myself I should stop and mention the MASSIVE cast
that took over the stage. If I had something to compare it to, I would
have to say a clown car. The cast just kept flowing from backstage at
times during the show. The size of the cast was very cumbersome when it
came to scenes and made it really hard to watch what was going on during
the scenes. But the scenes where the setting was in a city or outside,
such as the number “NYC” it looked great. I think that as long as that
many actors were constantly moving on and off stage it was great, but
when they had to stop and dance it was obvious that there were too many
members of this show.
When
it comes to the creative aspect and design of the show, I had my likes
and my dislikes (as does everyone). Lindy Bowthorpe-Davis gave us our
direction and choreography of the show. assistant choreography was done
by Siri Elkins. As a dancer myself, I completely understand the
challenge that comes with trying to choreograph fifty people on stage.
However, a lot of the numbers, including the smaller ones, the numbers
looked like a high school drill team. Step 2-3-4, and hold 2-3-4, kick!
Most of the children were looking for their invisible marks on stage,
this is expected in children, but not in adults. I would see adults
making sure they were an exact distance and all the choreography seemed
to be choreographed in triangles which is very common in military drill
team numbers. I will however say that this worked for one number and
that was “Hard Knock Life.” the song, for those of you who don’t know,
is very sharp and has a very distinct beat to it. the girls marching and
stepping in rythm worked for this number, but it didn’t work in the
other songs like “Easy Street” where there were only three people on
stage doing similar movements with one another. The direction was
something that I didn’t really notice or have an issue with until it got
to the intimate scenes.Two examples would have to be during the song
“Tomorrow” Annie found Sandy, her K-9 companion and stood center stage
belting her song. After a small back and forth with another character,
she then returns to her exact spot center stage and sings again. Three
minutes center stage is a long time when all you are doing is singing
out. The second example would be when Oliver Warbucks (Jared Jensen) is
trying to tell Annie that he wants to adopt her in act 1. Jared had
somewhat of a William Shatner tone when he would speak his lines, every
word got its own meaning. This is good unless you have to really
emotionally connect with a little girl on stage. The fact that their
experience differs on stage as performers is already a bridge that needs
to be crossed for the actors but in that scene both Annie and Warbucks
seemed to not fully understand what they were saying to one another nor
did they have the emotional motivation to deliver the lines that they
were saying.
Lastly I would like to mention the Vocal director of the
show Aimee Geddes. Aimee performed for us as “Star to Be.” It was in the
moment that she stepped forward and began to sing, that I realized
where the vocal decisions came from. Aimee is a talented vocal talent
and very fun to listen to, she has a Kristin Chenoweth feel about her.
But her voice choices were also present in the ensemble and ESPECIALLY
in Annie. I feel that while it may work for Aimee, a different technique
may be better suited for others in the cast. Some things I noted were
people starting on the breath of the note and Annie not being so forward
in her focal mask. These are of course little technicalities and are
really minor issues in the overall production.
Bottom
line is: this show is MASSIVE and a massive show isn’t easy to pull
off. My critiques aside, the musical is fun. You will really enjoy the
voices of everyone involved. Annie is adorable, Warbucks has a shaven
head and all the little girls remind you that “you are never fully
dressed without a smile”. I truly feel that this show deserves a big
audience and anyone who sees this show will remember it for being the
Annie they all grew up with.
Annie runs at Syracuse High School, located at: 665 S 2000
W, Syracuse, UT 84075. Tickets are $5-$8 depending on where you choose
to sit. and the show will be playing July 19, 20, and 22 at 7:30PM with a
Matinee at 2pm on Saturday, July 20th. you can purchase tickets online
at http://www.syracuseutaharts.