Thirty-three years after the comedy “9 to 5” hit movie theatres, three Wagon Wheel actresses are taking on three iconic roles in the Warsaw theater’s production of the Broadway musical version of the film. Lauren Roesner plays Judy Bernly in the musical. The film role was played by Jane Fonda. “Judy is recently separated from her husband, Dick. And the way we’ve been playing it is that they’ve been married about 15 years and he leaves her for his secretary at work, and so she is faced with the challenge, for the first time in her life, of having to find work,” Roesner said during an interview Monday afternoon. “... Judy has this obstacle of finding her way in the workplace amongst women who have been there awhile.” Dolly Parton played Doralee Rhodes in the 1980 film. For the Wagon Wheel production, Libby Schneider is taking on the role. “Doralee is pretty straightforward,” Schneider explained. “She is who she is. She’s sassy, she’s brassy, she’s not afraid to be sexy. She’s a very smart woman from Texas. She has been married to Duane for a little bit. She’s madly in love with her husband and she is the private secretary to Mr. Franklin Hart, who has some ulterior motives.” Kira Lace Hawkins is the third Wagon Wheel actress, playing Violet Newstead, the role played by Lilly Tomlin in the film. “Violet is kind of one of those women in the late ’70s who was career minded, which was a little less popular in those days. She started working right around the time she had her son so it wasn’t an issue to raise the kids and work at the same time,” Hawkins said. “She’s very headstrong. She’s a strong personality and has kind of been there the longest. She’s a supervisor and has dreams and aspirations of moving up in the company, but keeps running into that glass ceiling of not being able to move forward because she’s a woman. Only because she’s a woman. Not because she can’t do it. She’s a woman.” Violet is also a widow of three years. In the musical, they’ve added a love interest for her, which wasn’t in the film version, Hawkins continued. The musical is set in 1979, Roesner said. It talks about feminist struggles in the 1970s when women were first starting to have that urge to move up in the workplace rather than just stay home and take care of the kids. “What’s really fun about it is there’s a lot of kind of dated jokes that will be hilarious to our audience where we (the characters) just don’t know because it hasn’t happened in our world yet. It gets to be really fun,” Hawkins interjected. Schneider added, “For those who loved the movie, there are so many lines that are those classic lines that hopefully the audience will hopefully be saying along with us. But at the same time (it) has been updated.” Playing the roles originally made famous by Hollywood legends Parton, Fonda and Tomlin isn’t added pressure for the three Wagon Wheel actresses. They find it actually helps them with their performances. “I think, for me, it just makes for really great research for this role. To watch these women, watch the movie again. Of course, it’s iconic. Everyone knows ‘9 to 5,’ so you have to bring a certain level of what everyone is expecting to the character, but at the same time the musical has enough differences ... that you can make it your own and I don’t have to do exactly what Jane Fonda did with Judy,” Roesner said. When Schneider first got the call to play Parton, she said she was thrilled but it also was quite daunting. “Because Dolly is Dolly. You can’t explain it. She’s just her own entity. She’s so iconic, not just in this film but also as a person,” Schneider stated. “What’s really interesting is that she actually wrote (‘9 to 5’) during filming ... and so from that experience they moved on. When they started developing the musical, they asked her to write the music. Then it was adapted for stage,” she continued. “But like Lauren said, there’s enough breadth of life to the piece that while giving homage to those women, it’s just your own,” she concluded. One of the big themes in the show is sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace. While Hawkins says a lot has changed over the years, there’s still leaps and bounds to go. “I’d be very surprised if there’s not a woman alive today that hasn’t at some point felt something, a challenge, just because ... and you know, that goes for whoever you are. There’s going to be prejudices and things you have to deal with no matter who you are,” Hawkins said. “I just think there are places in the country where it’s not so much an issue anymore, but there also are areas where women still just kind of go and have the babies and stay at home and take care of them. And that’s your job, your role,” Roesner interjected. She added that’s great for women who want to do that, but there are women who want the best of both worlds. They want to have kids and a family, but also their careers and aspirations. “I know that’s a thing in my life. I know I want to have a family some day but I also know I have goals so that’s really great fuel for the fire for doing this role, I guess,” Roesner concluded. Schneider said the show isn’t just about women. It adapts itself to be about the underdog’s effort to be respected in the workplace and can be really, really powerful, she said. Most people know the title song for the musical. However, Parton wrote all the songs and lyrics for the musical. Schneider said, “Something I love about the show is, because it is Dolly, it has to have her essence and twang, particularly with Doralee you hear that twang. But, the cool thing about the show is it has a little Dolly throughout all of it, but it was adapted and arranged for the stage. It kind of has a lot of different elements of different kinds of music.” Hawkins said the show contains some memorable tunes like “Backwards Barbie” and some the audience has never heard before. The three women agreed the musical has some adult themes and language, and probably for today’s audiences it would rate a PG-13. “I wouldn’t say it’s explicit in any way, but there are, definitely with the sexism and with the sexual undertones Mr. Hart has with all the women, I would definitely say a little more mature of an audience,” Schneider cautioned. But at the end of the day, it is a comedy. Hawkins said there’s some real fun fantasy scenes in the musical so it’s not all realism and office. “We really take the audience to some far, far away lands, which I think is kind of fun not only to be transported to this 1979 place, but also these worlds we create in our heads,” Hawkins stated with laughter. Schneider said being a musical, the show has some big production numbers, amazing music from Parton, a great artistic team and dance numbers and the ensemble is very talented. For the complete two-part, free video interview with the actresses, visit the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com “9 to 5, The Musical” runs June 19-29 at the Wagon Wheel Theatre. Tickets range from $16-$34. Discounts are available for college students and on designated performances for seniors. For more information, visit wagonwheeltheatre.org or call 574-267-8041.
