I KNOW IT'S THE FIRST PREVIEW AND THE FIRST TIME THEY RAN THE SHOW ALL COMPLETELY THROUGH (well, they almost did) but I think they shouldn't have tried to stay THAT close to the original script. My friend Sam said it best: They need an editing eye.
This show is long.
Like, I felt like I put in a full 8 hour day watching it.
Allison Janney was tired. I don't mean "that bitch's hair is tired" I mean EXHAUSTED. Her first song (and a few more) she TOTALLY "Henry Higgins-ed" it. (yep, that's a verb.)
Now I'm a HUGE fan of Ms. Janney's. I LOVED her in The West Wing, she was BRILLIANT in Drop Dead Gorgeous and honestly pretty much anything she's ever featured in, but here it seemed like her sense of timing was made for television and film and not for the stage. (Which is weird, I KNOW, because she was Tony Nominated for her performance in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.) However, next to stage stars Stephanie J. Block (Boy From Oz, Wicked) and Megan Hilty (Wicked) she seemed to flounder.
Which sucks.
Musical Numbers:
The opening sequence of the title song 9 to 5, is fun. I don't know if it's smart, but it's fun.
Around Here tells the story of how it works at Consolidated while introducing Violet Newstead to Judy Bernly and a GENIUSLY PERFECT set.
Here For You is Franklin Hart's (Marc Kudisch) first song. While I get that he has to have a song to set up his character, they should cut a verse and get back to the girls. We get it, he's a pig. NEXT!
Out of Control is the song that takes the place of the copier scene with Judy. It starts out fantastic and then turns into some crappy hack number cut from Seussical.
Tattletales ... I think they changed the title to something about Gossip or it's now called Hey, Hey or something but here's the real gossip: Hey, Hey it's a bad song. It's all about how everybody gossips around the office and it then more or less introduces Judy to Doralee and features Ann Harada from the original cast of Avenue Q in a wasted role.
9 to 5 (Reprise) It's a reprise, it's amazing. What do you want from me?
The One I Love is a LOVELY song that brings background depth to our lead females characters. The 'Our Town' minimalisim sucks because you just came from the office, but it services a lovely song that a cabaret soloist is SURE to include in their repertore...
Backwoods Barbie is Doralee's first solo and is perfect. While people will be familiar with it from Dolly's latest album, it works really well in the show but for some reason lends itself to opening up the option that Doralee is as aware of herself as Dolly Parton is.
Dance O’ Death, Cowgirl’s Revenge and Potion Notion are all the dream sequences of killing Hart and the finale of the three is probably the best part. Not because it's over, but just because seeing everyone in their 'castle" outfits is pretty great. Judy's dream is TOTALLY different, which is a strange choice. Doralee's dream looks like Madonna's Don't Tell Me video and Violet's dream was just another example of how Ms. Janney isn't really up to selling a number no matter how fun it is.
Somewhere around here we're introduced to a B Plotline and a love interest for Violet. Why? I don't know, but Andy Karl as Joe is giving Dan Futterman a run for his money.
Heart to Hart is PROBABLY the best number of Act One, which is weird because Roz (Kathy Fitzgerald) sings it. (and since when does Roz deserve a song...let alone a C Plotline? Bizarre choice, but totally enjoyable)
I Killed the Boss! is the WORST solution to editting the steal-the-body-car-crash-pulled-over-by-the-cop-short-in-the-trunk-another-stiff-in-the-john scenes I've ever seen. It was like watching the Morphine Tango from the stage version of Kiss of the Spider Woman throw up on Some Fun Now from the film version of Little Shop of Horrors.
It was during this scene change that the set broke down, so Dolly Parton got up from her seat and brilliantly took matters into her own hands answering questions, describing her experience writing music for the show while working with the creators and THEN she got everyone in the audience to sing 9 to 5. When finding out they needed a little more time asked the orchestra to play I WIll Always Love You and asked the audience to sing along with her during the chorus:
From The Mezzanine
From the Floor.
Shine Like the Sun is the Act One Finale and was more or less worth the wait.
Now then, if you're still with me, which I wouldn't be because I sorta wanted to go home at this point, Act Two started:
Entr’acte, Self explanitory.
Around Here (Reprise) I'm pretty sure they cut this or it was just REALLY non-memorable.
One of the Boys This is TOTALLY Roxie from Chicago and I don't think Allison Janney was up for it. Which was sad, because there's a Think of Me from Phantom costume change in the middle of it and a chorus line of boys ala The American Dream from Miss Saigon and it just really seemed like she didn't care... I mean seriously: she tap-synced. WTF!?!?
5 to 9, sung by Roz. Yawn, cut it.
Mundania is Hart's OTHER number and let's just say it: YAWNIER. He's literally hanging above center stage like Peter Pan's flying machine broke midway through I'm Flying.
Willin’/Well-Oiled Machine is SUPER CUTE.
Get Out And Stay Out is as close to Defying Gravity from Wicked that Astonishing was from Little Women. Great number, good set, useless scene.
Let Love Grow Oy. Talk about a useless scene. This is the "love song" between Violet and Joe and it is sung on a planter. REALLY? A BROADWAY LOVE SONG ON A PLANTER IN AN ATRIUM OF AN OFFICE BUILDING? Yeah, it's just that awful.
Mundania (Reprise). Please make Hart stop singing. Not that Marc Kudisch is bad, not at all. It's just like Pierce Brosnan in the film version of Mamma Mia. ENOUGH ALREADY! Who cares? Move on!
Finale: 9 to 5. A BRILLIANT, FUNNY, ENERGECTIC end to the show.
Frankly they made bizarre changes that didn't need to be changed (Why would they change the nail file for Hart to escape to something else TOTALLY not within reason?) The final 1/3 of the second act could SO have been a montage and saved us all a lot of trouble. The love interest for Violet is so weird, because this show is such a GIRL POWER message, but then out of nowhere they need a guy to help them make it all happen. SHUT UP! I KNOW! What's THAT about? I couldn't tell if Doralee was the lead of the musical or if Megan Hilty was just THAT good.
Would I see it again? Here: No. On Broadway: Perhaps if I heard they made changes.
I am SO glad I got to go. I feel honored to have been there for the first night of something that can be TOTALLY amazing if they cut a bunch of stuff or fold as soon as the critics slaughter it in New York.
