**Apologies for the delay with this review. Personal issues have put me behind.**
Tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen.
Pour myself a cup of ambition ,
and yawn and stretch and try to come to life.
In the Gods for this one and the Upper Circle as prices for the front stalls were outrageous for an amateur society. Over £40 a head, which is double what I have ever paid for a similar standard of company.
Got that major niggle out of the way. So, it’s 9 to 5, the Dolly Parton musical with tunes and lyrics by the legend and based on the 1980 film of the same name, plus, a book from Patricia Resnick, co-writer of that original film. It’s an excellent show which I’ve enjoyed previously at the same venue as this outing. Full of great numbers and excellent, funny dialogue. It should always be a winner. My only downside of the script is that male characters, bar one, are only there as plot devices.
The story is one of a fight for equality against a misogynistic regime and on this occasion, it was BMOS Musical Theatre Company delivering the message. And the first thing I experienced was the strength of the leads. Michelle Worthington (Violet), Jo Smith (Doralee) and Rachel Richards (Judy) were all excellent in characterisation and song. Numbers which impressed from these were Backwoods Barbie, One of the Boys and the top one for me, Get Out and Stay Out.
Having performed the song myself, Here for You will always have my attention, and James Gordanfair was on top form in his rendition. Strong performance with just the right amount of OTT sleaze. Another outstanding song was Heart to Hart, sung in this show by Beth Hunt as Roz. Not as visually risqué as I have seen in the past, but excellent all the same.
However, as I have mentioned, I was in the Upper Circle and for a lot of the time I did feel detached from proceedings. Probably due to the fact the Upper Circle was pretty much empty. The sound didn’t travel and while I like to feel as if I am part of the show in terms of experiencing it, it was like watching a bootleg upload on YouTube. Difficult to follow and if I didn’t already know the plot, I would have found it hard to understand what was going on. And then the show itself also lacked a bit of oomph! What would have improved things for me was having a faster pace as it did seem slow at times. Lessons to be learned maybe by watching more contemporary styles of production. It was the same with the orchestra where the tempo could have been racked up a notch. All the above contributed to a lower enjoyment rate than other company shows. And maybe BMOS should consider performing in a smaller venue if they can’t do justice to one such as The Alex.
Directing 9 to 5 was Stephen Duckham with musical direction from David Easto and Callum Thompson, plus choreography by Aaron Gibson and Shannon Lee.
Family and friends probably loved it in the prime seats but for some of us up in the cheapies, it was a struggle.
Cheers.
Antony N Britt
* Pictures taken from social media.
Antony N Britt - Author 