Here\u2019s a story of a lascivious boss harassing the women who work for him and women fed up about the abuse, who revolt to empower themselves and change the system that enables him.<\/p>\n
No, it\u2019s not another post-Weinstein news report about another powerful man and his #MeToo comeuppance. It\u2019s Aspen Community Theatre\u2019s production of the Dolly Parton-inspired musical comedy \u201c9 to 5.\u201d The musical, inspired by the 1980 film, debuted on Broadway in 2009 with music and lyrics by Parton.<\/p>\n
This timely show opens Friday at the Aspen District Theatre and runs through Nov. 16.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI thought it would be great to do now, because of the #MeToo movement, and it\u2019s still relevant and that stuff is still going on,\u201d said director and choreographer Paula Makar, who the company recruited from Music Theatre Wichita to oversee the community theater production.<\/p>\n She and the creative team haven\u2019t made any editorial changes to the show to speak more directly to current events and the ongoing revelations of institutional sexism. This bawdy, broad comedy does the work on its own.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we tell the story right, then it comes through and we don\u2019t have to explain it,\u201d Makar said.<\/p>\n The story follows three office workers \u00ad\u2014 Judy, Doralee and Violet \u2014 as they plot to take revenge on their boss, a comic villain whose character is summed up in one song as a \u201csexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.\u201d<\/p>\n Last fall, when Aspen Community Theatre boardmember Travis Lane McDiffett was traveling to Utah to pick up the set for the production of \u201cBig River,\u201d he spent the trip listening to cast recordings of Broadway musicals. Hearing \u201c9 to 5\u201d made him snap to attention.<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018This is so relevant to what is going on in the world right now,\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201cIt was one of those ah-hah moments.\u201d<\/p>\n Katrina Klawiter plays Doralee, the buxom hillbilly secretary role originated Dolly Parton in the film. Apart from nailing the \u201cBackwoods Barbie\u201d twang and accent, embodying the country music legend, Katwiler said, is all in the attitude.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about confidence,\u201d she said. \u201cShe knows who she is and she makes no apologies, which I love. It\u2019s a lot of fun being someone who owns and loves who they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Audience members will all recognize Parton\u2019s opening title song, here performed by the full ensemble, but the high points for Klawiter are the trios shares with Amy Kaiser, playing the newly divorced and new to the workforce Judy, and Dani Grace Kopf as the seen-it-all office manager Violet. The first-act songs \u201cI Just Might\u201d and \u201cShine Like the Sun\u201d track the characters\u2019 arc from taking abuse to taking charge.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately it becomes an empowerment story,\u201d said Kaiser. \u201cIt\u2019s really about the strength of the three women.\u201d<\/p>\n These three juicy female parts and the big ensemble cast were among the reasons that Aspen Community Theatre\u2019s board chose \u201c9 to 5\u201d for 2019, as it affords female performers the opportunity to shine following two years of shows \u2014 \u201cSpamalot\u201d in 2017 and \u201cBig River\u201d last year \u2014 without many big parts for female actors.<\/p>\n The cast of 22 includes the Aspen Community Theatre debut of Danielle Coulter, a local singer and actor with cerebral palsy who got her start as a kid performing with Challenge Aspen and has in recent years landed parts with Theatre Masters\u2019 Take Ten and in the Aspen Noise choir.<\/p>\n Aspen Country Day School\u2019s music and theater director Brandon Joseph, chewing scenery as the buffoonishly horrible boss Franklin Hart, also is making his local community theater debut.<\/p>\n A scene-stealer among the supporting cast may be Tammy Baar, who plays Hart\u2019s loyal and lusting assistant Roz (\u201cthe office bitch and the office snitch\u201d in Baar\u2019s words) who performs the over-the-top showstopper \u201cHeart to Hart.\u201d Baar is a familiar face onstage at Aspen Community Theatre, having made her first appearance as a high schooler in the company\u2019s first show \u2014 \u201cand yet another version of Wizard of Oz\u201d in 1976 \u2014 but this is a change of pace.<\/p>\n Baar is known to kids throughout the Roaring Fork Valley as Buttons the Clown. She\u2019s played sweet and motherly parts, including Mrs. Potts in \u201cBeauty and the Beast\u201d and Mother Abbess in \u201cThe Sound of Music.\u201d Here, she gets to be a little ridiculous and randy.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted this part because I knew it would be really hard for me and really fun,\u201d Baar said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been way out of my comfort zone,\u201d she added, noting that she won\u2019t be inviting her elementary school-aged theater and music students to the show. \u201cIf they see me being orgasmic onstage, they may never get over that.\u201d<\/p>\n The cast started rehearsing the \u201c9 to 5\u201d music in mid-September, first nailing down the songs in seven days of rehearsal before incorporating the choreography, full scenes and then set changes. The set, rented from Wichita, may be the largest and most complex that Aspen Community Theatre has worked with.<\/p>\n At a rehearsal last week, cast and crewmembers were finalizing the intricate puzzle of coordinated moves to reconfigure the massive and manifold set pieces \u00ad\u2014 there are office sets, a library, home sets, bathrooms, a full-sized car, etc. \u2014 while the scene shop was a hive of sewing and ironing (and, appropriate to the show\u2019s subject matter, the costume crew discussing the revelations in Ronan Farrow\u2019s new book-length #MeToo expose).<\/p>\n Along with Makar, the director, another fresh face on the creative team this year is music director Ben McMurray. The classical pianist and music teacher moved to the valley three years ago with Americorps, and played in the pit orchestra in last year\u2019s production of \u201cBig River.\u201d<\/p>\n He is leading a 10-piece orchestra playing Parton\u2019s country, R&B and showtune mash-up of a score.<\/p>\n \u201cThe music is challenging but it is accessible,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of it sits in the ear, it\u2019s these great melodies and super-fun writing.\u201d<\/p>\n Aspen isn\u2019t the only place recognizing \u201c9 to 5\u201d and its relevance. A revival of the show is currently running in London\u2019s West End and the original film will be the subject of a recently announced documentary titled \u201cStill Working 9 to 5.\u201d<\/p>\n