What a Way To Make a Living

We had one of those 'everything goes right' kind of days on Tuesday. We took an early bus to Boston expecting to have to wait an hour for the next bus to NYC, but a bus was waiting to leave for NYC less than 5 minutes after we got there. So we arrived in NYC early, and, of course, our room at the Hilton Garden Inn was ready hours early. We had a nice long lunch at Pigalles and were welcomed back to our favorite city by the nice host, Greg. We headed off to see 9 to 5 and , naturally, our discount seats were superb--in the center of the orchestra. Alan Alda and his wife sat in the row in front of us, and Morley Safer was across the aisle.

The show was pretty much just what you would expect from Dolly Parton--a silly, campy, over the top musical. But there were many aspects of this show that made it better than the average over the top musical made from a popular movie. Allison Janney was very good as Violet, the Lily Tomlin role. She has a commanding stage presence, and, although she doesn't have much of a voice, she has a couple of very nice dance numbers and does herself proud in her first musical. The other actresses who play the leads-- Megan Hilty as the Dolly character and Stephanie J. Block as the shy divorcee (both recently from Wicked) are capable musical comedy actresses, and Block has an amazing voice. The real standout for us was the great choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler. Every dance number is clever and noteworthy. They make moving desks and the watercooler into a dancing event! He is definitely one of the hottest choreographer on Broadway right now- fresh from doing fabulous work in the CB's favorite In the Heights.

The choreography and Allison Janney's performance make this is a worthwhile show to see, although it is pretty over the top . . .