NUHS students work overtime on ‘9 to 5’
The powerhouse cast of NUHS’ production of “9 to 5” sings “Change It” during the second act of the musical. The characters of Violet, played by Lexie Goff (center), Doralee, played by Sophie Berger (right) and Judy, played by Bronwyn Schlagel (left) sing this tune after taking over management of the office and creating new work reforms.
In a rehearsal for NUHS’s production of “9 to 5,” Lexie Goff playing Violet sings “One of the Boys” with the ensemble cast as backup after taking taking over the company vice president position after kidnapping and inprisoning the former boss Franklin Hart.
The ensemble cast of NUHS’s production of “9 to 5” holds up Lexie Goff, playing Violet, at the end of her show stopping musical number “One of the Boys.”
The NUHS cast rehearses a scene from “9 to 5: The Musical.” In this scene, Violet, played by Lexie Goff (center), Doralee, played by Sophie Berger (right) and Judy, played by Bronwyn Schlagel (left) rummage through their inprisoned bosses’ desk to find evidence of his fradulent accounting.
The three leads of “9 to 5: The Musical” get talked down to by their cruel boss Franklin Hart. In the photo L to R: Franklin Hart, played by Everett Brown, Violet played by Lexie Goff, Doralee played by Sophie Berger and Judy played by Bronwyn Schlagel.
The powerhouse cast of NUHS’ production of “9 to 5” sings “Change It” during the second act of the musical. The characters of Violet, played by Lexie Goff (center), Doralee, played by Sophie Berger (right) and Judy, played by Bronwyn Schlagel (left) sing this tune after taking over management of the office and creating new work reforms.
In a rehearsal for NUHS’s production of “9 to 5,” Lexie Goff playing Violet sings “One of the Boys” with the ensemble cast as backup after taking taking over the company vice president position after kidnapping and inprisoning the former boss Franklin Hart.
The ensemble cast of NUHS’s production of “9 to 5” holds up Lexie Goff, playing Violet, at the end of her show stopping musical number “One of the Boys.”
The NUHS cast rehearses a scene from “9 to 5: The Musical.” In this scene, Violet, played by Lexie Goff (center), Doralee, played by Sophie Berger (right) and Judy, played by Bronwyn Schlagel (left) rummage through their inprisoned bosses’ desk to find evidence of his fradulent accounting.
The three leads of “9 to 5: The Musical” get talked down to by their cruel boss Franklin Hart. In the photo L to R: Franklin Hart, played by Everett Brown, Violet played by Lexie Goff, Doralee played by Sophie Berger and Judy played by Bronwyn Schlagel.
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NEW ULM - The New Ulm High School's theatre department will put in a triple-shift with upcoming production of "9 to 5: The Musical."
Performances are 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 at the NUHS Auditorium. Tickets are a $10 for adults and $7 for students.
The musical "9 to 5" is an adaptation of the 1980 film that starred Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. Both the original film and the musical center around three women, Violet (played by Lexie Goff) Doralee (played by Sophie Berger) and Judy (played by Brownyn Schlagel), who work in an office under an egotistical and sexists company vice president Franklin Hart (played by Everett Brown). Violet, Doralee and Judy bond over their shared anger over Hart's treatment of the women in the office and imagine ways of getting rid of him. This leads to the women kidnapping Hart and trapping him in his home. With the boss gone, the woman take control of the department and start making improvements.
The musical stage director and choreographer Samarah Forster said "9 to 5" was chosen for this year's musical because this production allowed them to showcase the school's talent.
"We have some powerhouse girls we needed to feature," Forster said, referring to leads, Goff, Berger and Schlagel who each delivered strong solos during the show.
Goff said she was extremely excited to get the role of Violet in this production. She said it is the biggest role she's ever had as an actress. She was also excited the school was doing a musical comedy, which had a lighter tone than other recent productions. Last year, Goff played the villain in the school musical and it was a nice change of pace to play the main protagonist.
Goff said the best part of playing Violet was being able to embody her personality. She is a strong character who knows her own worth and has greater career ambitions.
She said the greatest challenge of this production is "9 to 5" features a lot of singing and dance. It is the combination of the two that is difficult. Goff is forced to do a lot of physical work while singing in the musical numbers. During the song "One of the Boys," Goff as Violet must dance around the entire office set and even climb on the desks.
Schlagel said when first cast as Judy, she knew nothing about "9 to 5" and has still not seen the original film, but was very excited to play the character.
"Judy's personality is fairly similar to mine," Schlagel said. "That makes her a comfortable character to play. At the same time she reaching out to make more of her life."
Schlagel said the greatest challenge for Judy was singing her solo "Get Out and Stay Out." She said that one is a killer on her voice, but fortunately it is one of the last songs of the musical.
Berger said after being cast as Doralee she immediately went to work researching the musical, that included watching the original 1980 film. The character of Doralee was played by Dolly Parton in the original film and it was important to Berger that she do the role justice.
"Dolly Parton is such an icon," Berger said. "it is a bit intimidating to step into her shoes."
She acknowledged the greatest challenge of playing Doralee was getting the voice down. Berger said she does not know a lot of country music and matching Parton's famous southern accent accent was a struggle, but she able to find the right voice.
Berger said the best part of playing Doralee is the characters confidence.
"Doralee tells it like it is," Berger said.
Brown said when he first heard NUHS was doing "9 to 5" he really wanted to role of Franklin Hart.
"He is such a bad guy," Brown said. "But that's what makes him fun to play."
The role allows him to be over the top evil, but at the same time this makes Hart a funny character. Brown said this makes his role a bit of balancing act to play.
"My role has a lot of comedy, but the audience is not suppose to like me," he said. "I got to be funny, but not funny enough for the audience to like me."
Forster also credited Brown's dedication to the musical. She said some the hardest parts of doing the musical was setting up all the ways to torture Mr. Hart. Since his character is tied up for a large portion of the musical, the set designers had to rig up a special harness to fly Brown in and off the set between scenes. There is even a scene where Brown is placed is tied on a roasting spit. She praised Brown for putting up with all the mistreatment.
Forster also praised all the behind the scenes crew for making the play work. There are a lot of background details from the sets designers to the sound and lighting technicians.
Forster said the best part of working on this musical was in fact the music. She said the cast and crew did a wonderful job of bringing it together.
Forster has worked on several musicals in her career and she said after rehearsing for weeks it is easy to get sick of the songs, but that doesn't happen with "9 to 5."
Forster said her favorite song from the musical is "Shine Like the Sun" which closes out the musical.
Schlagel also said "Shine Like the Sun" was her favorite.
Goff liked performing "One of the Boys."
Brown said he was partial to "Here for You" because that is Hart's solo song.
Berger could not decide which was her favorite. She also liked "Shine Like the Sun," but loved "Change It" and "Get Out and Stay Out."
The cast and crew invite the audience to attend the performance and pick their own favorite song