Tonight me and my partner got last minute tickets to see the UK premiere (first preview) of 9 to 5 at the Manchester Opera House, thought i would share some thoughts.
First Preview things The show started almost 30 mins late after a great talk from a very nervous director (Jeff Calhoun) who explained the cast had not had a full run with the set etc yet and explained the show might have to be stopped. He talked about Dolly and his excitement for the show. He also called the show the World Premiere of this whole new production of 9 to 5. It was great to see him and hear him talk very nice guy. For a first preview (and i have been to many) this was by far the messiest first preview i have ever seen. Lights coming in and out at the wrong time, sets still been dragged on mid scene, props not working and Natalie Casey got hit on the head by a huge piece of scenery that was been flown in. The show needs a LOT of tightening, far to many pauses and awkward moments as well as missed cues, energy was kinda flat and the pacing was all over the place. We also had moments where you could hear the cast off stage talking mid scene when someones microphone was left on. They have a lot of work to do ready for next Tues press night. I advise anybody wanting to see it in Manchester to wait till after it's opened, ticket prices were no cheaper yet the show is not a finished show at the moment.
Production This is NOT a new production, apart from a few scene changes it's very much the US tour production and the US tour set. The set is basic but effective but at the same time very messy. People are always on stage every few mins moving things in and out and the transitions (visible) are not quick. Obviously they could not use the brilliant Broadway set that came up from the floor in a blink of an eye but this one seems like too many pieces that are holding things up. The lighting is basic and uninspiring (they could have had a lot of fun with One of the Boys and didn't). The sound was not great but thats clearly a first preview issue and will be sorted. Most of the costumes are similar to the Broadway one, some of them however are new and ugly as sin. If like me you HATE click track then brace yourself. So many moments of the ensemble singing have click underneath them. Even the band on the opening song 9 to 5 did not look like they were playing. It's inexcusable with a decent size ensemble to use so much click, that however is a UK thing and not just a 9 to 5 thing The show curtain is the same as the US tour and is made up off different celebs and images from the 80s (looks great).
Cast Such a mixed bag and such a strange experience that i think this has to be the oddest casting/choices i have ever seen. Jackie Clune as Violet is Alison Janey, i don't mean similar....i mean identical, no difference at all, close your eyes and it's AJ. I have never seen anything like it, not one moment in the show felt like it was hers, it's just an imitation....even the singing which AJ was not exactly known for. However because AJ was so good in the show so was Jackie. She played it to perfection but should thank Miss Janey for the inspiration.
Amy Lennox as Doralee was pretty good, she has a great voice but she needs to have more fun, let her hair down. I think with a bit more of a push from her she could be great, at the moment she is getting lost a little in the background (side not, having her sing Backwards Barbie in such a conservative dress where her chest is totally covered made no sense)
Ben Richards is great as Hart, i was worried about his casting as he is such a good looking guy but he totally transforms. He was a stand out.
Bonnie Langford as Roz is a strange one, she gives it everything she has, some jokes land, some did not. However in Hart to Hart she is stripped down to sexy lingerie and doing a big acrobatic dance break (clearly put in to show she can still dance) but with her knock out figure and moves the whole point of Roz is lost. Hart is supposed to be turned off by her, but any heterosexual man who walked in on her looking as she did in her skimpy s would have loved it.
Natlaie Casey as Judy is giving (no exaggeration here) one of the worst performances i have ever seen in a professional musical. Now to be fair to her who i like on TV it's not all her fault as she didn't cast her. She is SO MISCAST that it's terrifying. Natalie is not feminine, she cant play demure or the put upon ex housewife she is supposed to play here.....so she doesn't. She does silly voices to get a laugh and completely misses the point of the character.....ive never seen anyone miss the point of a character so much before. Her American accent is shocking and she still sounds very northern (UK). She comes across hard edged at time (something Judy is not) and at other times a bit slow.....yes really. She also can not really sing and has a very flat voice. Her big number Get Out and Stay Out was HORRIBLE. The singing was dreadful and it had no emotional pull at all (though to be fair some of the staging choices did not help her). At the end of the song when she had to belt she did OK, but the lead up was painful. Her movements on this song were also very chav. This a a big moment in the show where Judy stands up for herself but because the role was played so odd all the way through the show you felt nothing. She got a huge applause at the end but it was undeserved. I have nothing against the girl, in fact she seems lovely but she is sinking the ship, the chemistry with her and the others is not there, and with that character missing in action and replaced with whatever the hell Natalie is doing it's ruining the show. I really think she should be replaced and quickly.I wish her well in other things but this is not right for her AT ALL, one of the all time worst casting choices.
Show The show was never great, it was pleasant and had a few good numbers but it never soared like it should. It was never quite funny enough, it was never quite empowering enough and it was never quite musically catchy enough. They had a chance to sort it out for the UK.....they haven't. The disastrous casting of Natalie aside the show still has many problems. Act 1 feels far too long. So many moments need tightening (a preview thing) but i feel that even with tightening they will never quite work. Act 2 moves much better but is far less fun. Some scenes have been cut or tweaked from the US to here, sadly most involved moments of heart. Violet now only has one scene with her son, anything with Doralee's husband has gone except in opening song etc, anything that showed the women at their most vulnerable or human has gone. The hospital scene is changed a bit (works fine), the ladies fantasy revenge moment has changed a lot (pretty good) some cuts were made in act 2 that knock the pacing out. Like on the US tour Dolly opens act 1 and act 2 to narrate (on video) and also in the finale (fun but unneeded).
The show is not bad, it has a lot of good things, many scenes are very funny, some full of smart wit and some songs (9 to 5, Shine Like The Sun, Backwards Barbie and Get Out) are divine, but none of them truly sored tonight, so much so the song i hate (Change It) became a highlight.
I am going back to see it next week and will do an official review, as it stands right now it's still very messy but i trust Calhoun (who's work i loved on Bonnie and Clyde) will tighten everything up. Some things however (some script and score issues and Natalie) can not be fixed.
9 to 5 will be a crowd pleaser, never a great show but fun. As of the first preview though it has a lot of work to do.
Well done however to the cast and crew for getting through a very shaky first preview, and also to Natalie who after having a huge piece of scenery lowered on her head came straight back on like a trooper.
Side note, for those who want to know about Merch they have Programs, Mugs, Pink Cowbody hats and BLONDE DOLLY WIGS FOR 12 QUID.....YES REALLY!!!
Bit of chalk and cheese here I guess with Jackie Clune giving a perfect Alison Janney, who played the role well on Broadway, which is great, however the role originally played by Stephanie J Block needs someone very strong vocally to deliver the role and her big number 'Get Out and stay Out is a awesome number, but needs someone who can deliver, it sounds they went a bot of off piste with Natalie Casey, hope she gets it together for when I see it Wimbledon in a couple of weeks.
However the show not being ready and the production haven't fully run through with the set, is very very poor show, a show should be 95% ready for its first preview, at this point very subtle changes are done with lighting, sound, sets, sight-lines and adding/cutting punch lines, this is just like going on holiday and told the Swimming Pool isn't finished and all the restaurant and bars are closed until further notice, just not on and noth fair on the customers.
Natalie wont be ready because she is completely mis cast. It's a very gentle role played so softly hat the humor comes out of that. Natalie is playing the complete opposite, tough at times, brash, cocky, over exaggerated etc. All 3 women are supposed to have very different personalties and be from very different walks of life, Natalie has missed the point in a huge way. Stephanie's performance as warm and innocent with natural humor, her performance of Get Out (the best song in the show) was not just about how well she sung it (which she did amazing) but how real it feels, how you feel her strength and confidence build through the song, that is not happening in this production.
I really enjoyed th Show last night - maybe I'm gettin old and soft but I thought it knocked the socks of a lot of productions I've seen including shows in the West End
I agree with the above review about the rough edges needing ironing out and the sets - Three central pieces seemed to come on and off about 300 times - I got dizzy
But I disagree with the review of the Cast on a few points
Bonnie Langford makes the most perfect sense to a UK audience to whom she has a peter pan quality - most of the audience near me squirmed and groaned as she stripped to her fishnets - and therefore 100% right for the part of an unfanciabkle secretary. In the seciond act she started a song "5 to 9" which sounded great but it lasted about 60 seconds - why so short? I felt the show needed a few slower moments
Amy Lennox I thought was superb - she reminded me for some reason of Kristin Chenoweth in her vocal tone and looks and brought a beautiful naivety to the role - best of the cast for me
Jackie Clune great acting - singing i know she is great as I've seen her before - but i think she was unsure or nervous - i was willing her to believe in herself more in her big number
Natalie Casey's accent did seem to wander the Pennine Way more than Route 66 but like many people I can't help but love the girl and I loved her song Let Love Grow. 2 Lagers showed she could play comedy and I think the laughs she got were through her hard work and comic timing after the set attacked her. When the cast were taking their bows (to an incredibly enthusiastic standing ovation) she got one of the biggest cheers. Misscast? - probably Deserves a mauling? - probably not
It's a fun show and it got a great reaction last night - compared to some of the dross that tours the UK it's a winner for me
Cheers for the song list, I am not a Dolly Parton fan, but love most of the songs in the show, sad the song 'Always a Woman' has been dropped, but glad 'Cowgirl's Revenge' is gone.
Incidentally I never thought I would see 9-5 and American Idiot come over to the UK, such a good idea to use a British tour, to make a show viable.
mancmatt Nobody said 9 to 5 is not fun, the Broadway production was a lot of fun. Right now the UK production needs a lot of tightening to make it that fun night out show, last night seemed more like a chore a times to sit through than a froffy musical. Will the UK one find it's feet, yes probably and i wish them all the best.
As for Natalie, can you honestly tell me that the performance you watched last night represented a sweet, demure, timid woman who is on the brink after her husband left her and is scared to raise her voice? HONESTLY? Sorry but that was not her performance at all. If you have seen the film or the musical before you will know how the role is supposed to be played.
It makes no difference if Natalie gets laughs, of course she is going to, she is a comedy actress and did some very funny lines, however she is not that character at all.
As for Get Out and Stay Out, that song would get an applause whoever sang it and however well they sang it as its an 11 oclock number, big chorus building to it's climax as the woman takes control of her life. It was not for poor Natalie that people were applauding at the end of that song, anyone could have sung it.
That song every time i have seen it done before has had such an impact when acted and sung beautifully, shouting random words throughout the song and keep pretending to be crying so we cant hear the singing is not how it should be done. Natalie was not helped by the fact they have re staged it from New York with Natalie now singing only one verse to him before he leaves (she used to make him stay and listen to every word before pushing him out of the door and going in to soaring final part). Calhoun also has Natalie singing the only verse with her ex on stage with her back turned to him......she is supposed to be confronting him but in this version it's like she is still scared of him. He also just walks off the stage rather than Judy throwing him out.
Also Nat did not get the biggest cheer at all, the 3 women came out and bowed together and got huge cheers.
It bothers me in this country so much that especially on our tours we seem to be perfectly willing to except sub par performances all because 'we like them in other stuff' or 'they made me laugh'. We seem to (with 'celebs') give them a pass when they cant sing well or are miscast. Sorry but when tickets are expensive i want a well cast and well directed show. I write and direct myself and run my own production company (as well as work as a theatre critic) and for ANYONE not to see such obvious miscasting really bothers me.
If you have not seen how Get Out and Stay Out should be performed then please watch Stephanie J Block from the Broadway production. Then tell me Natalie performed it well.
sounds interesting... seeing it next saturday so will be interesting to see how it develops. Surely to god they will sort it out for tuesday when dolly arrives for press night... I can't imagine her wanting to put her face to the show you saw last night!
Perhaps it needs her to kick some ass... a lady in power always works wonders!
I certainly agree you shouldn't get sub par cast on tour, the West End attracts the best actors in the world, a tour shouldn't be too far behind in theory.
I was there too, and seem to agree with songanddanceman. I thought the three leads were way below par. Jackie failed to start acting until Act 2 and even then, as songanddanceman pointed out, it felt like she was imitating Allison Janney. Her strength of character and presence as a potential CEO failed to surface at all throughout the show. Amy Lennox has a decent singins voice, but her accent and warmth were severely lacking. I think she has the most potential of the 3 leads, but at the moment she needs a lot of work. Natalie was the weakest of the three leads. She played Natalie Casey as we always see her. She wasn't demure or remotely downtrodden, instead littered the performance with Natalie's 'Two Pints of Lager...' pantomime nods and winks to the audience, which were really not inkeeping with the character at all. When she tried to be emotional and upset at the start of Get Out... it failed to convince because we hadn't seen any depth of character previously. Bonnie Langford I thought was the star of the show. Her performance far surpassed that of the other leads, her number Heart to Hart was the highlight of the show for me. I thought she was hilarious, confident and showcased herself as the triple threat she is. Ben and Bonnie were the only two principals who had any idea of the characters they were portraying.
Watched it again tonight (to review) and whilst the show has go tighter than that terrible first preview it's still lost in the middle somewhere, Natalie is still VERY problematic, especially singing Get Out and Stay Out which i thought was a disaster (except the final big chorus where she did great)
Nice to see The Times give the show 4 out of 5 stars today
Their comment on Natalie "..... it fits as well as anything in Sondheim: likewise when Natalie Casey as Judy, with breaks and sobs, renounces her husband in Get out and Stay Out Casey's performance is intriguing and adept: what could be a straightforward evocation of a vulnerable woman is embellished with remarkably dark hints of female rage and almost baritone violence."
Nice to see i wasnt the only person who liked her. But then again maybe the Times critic doesnt have "theatre eyes" #yesiamstillfeelingpatronised x
What are you talking about, the reviews i posted were far better that what i thought with some 4 stars in there, i just copied and pasted the links to the reviews
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Posted: 10/12/12 at 07:42pm