"9 to 5" Cheered Me Up After My 9 to 5

BY CASEY MCCARTHY '19

PTS Falconer Staff

 The musical 9 to 5 presented Thursday and Friday, October 19th and 20th, directed by Mr. Stoddard has already become a sensational topic across the Palmer Trinity community. It’s performance laid the ground for revolutionary ideas for Palmer Trinity since it contained a less watered down script, including sexual references as well as a few curse words. Which is not at all typical for any school setting, but is indicative of real life and further captivated the audience. Perhaps this will be a step forward for Palmer necessary to pull in a larger audience. The innovative idea of incorporating teachers (TJ Murray, Andrew Godley, Ashley Chapman, Eric Ballesteros, Julio Carassou, and Raul Gonzalez) as part of the cast is another incentive for students to come support the theatre. The punchlines always quenched the insatiable desire for comedic relief, the crowd continued to be filled to the brim with contagious laughter and held a lighthearted and cheerful attitude throughout the night, encouraging the actors and actresses to tie up the play with unwavering spirit.

Director & Theatre Teacher, Mr. Stoddard, addressing the audience before the show on opening night.

 While Pinecrest Gardens is always a gorgeous backdrop, especially with a night breeze, it almost changed the course of the night. The play could’ve potentially been ruined due to weather conditions. Consequently, the theatre needs a bigger, more permanent indoor location. Despite the occasional break due to rainfall on Friday, the quick transition from scene to scene set the smooth run of the play for the night.

 While entranced in the rhythm of the play, my attention never veered to the lighting or the music as it seemed to flow naturally. The stage and props were efficiently moved and perfectly represented the scenes. The costumes encompassed the setting of play and seemed the fit each character well. However, I will say that at times the sound quality dropped and made it harder to hear some of the songs.

 Perhaps I’m biased to say I thoroughly enjoyed the show, since I am a musical lover. After all this is the girl who, at eight years old, rewatched Mamma Mia seven consecutive times. The play first caught my eye in the presentation at convocation with Katia Carlo’s solo, “I Just Might”. The song embodied a very distinctive hopeful aura as she sang about her aspirations to make it out in the real world with her first job. The transition many of the female characters made were skillfully performed by the actresses as though it were second nature to them. In the beginning of the play there stood but one strong female role, Violet Newstead (Natalie Veater), by the end however, Roz Keith (Isabella Swift), Doralee Rhodes (Giovanna Befler), Margaret (Emma Shannon), and Judy Bernly (Katia Carlo) had all undergone their own metamorphosis into strong, independent women. To watch the women take over their lives, and transform their hopes and dreams into reality in a time of debasement of women inspired hopefulness as well as confidence, so much so it gave me chills.

Cast List & Photos for "9 to 5"

 Set in 1979, the play displayed the struggle of hardworking women, especially with a sexist, demeaning, and perverted boss, Franklin Hart Jr. (Owen Reynolds). The roles were so excellently placed, personally I never would have pictured these fellow classmates portraying such characters. The students completely enveloped themselves into their characters, which were so drastically different than that of their own personalities, which in turn, gave way to a truly remarkable performance.