Cups of ambition

The themes behind the 1980 movie remain as relevant as ever in The Court Theatre's production of 9 to 5 The Musical.

- DIONNE CHRISTIAN

Everybody was very nervous about the movie, with it having three female leads," declares Lily Tomlin in 2022 documentary Still Working 9 to 5, as the action cuts to a closeup of herself, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton on the red carpet at the premiere of 9 to 5 more than 40 years previously.

No one should have been nervous; it became 1980's highest grossing comedy. Marking Parton's first big-screen acting role, 9 to 5 cemented all three actors' places in popular culture, earned US$103.9 million off a budget of US$10m, spawned a TV series, the documentary and a musical. 9 to 5 The Musical now has its New Zealand premiere as The Court Theatre's end-of-year – and beginning of the next — show, which will have Cantabrians and visitors to Christchurch tumblin’ out of bed and stumblin’ to the theatre for 10 weeks.

The Court's artistic director Alison Walls says she programmed the musical, which opened on Broadway in 2009, because the music is fantastic, the film it’s based on is iconic, and it’s interesting to look back and reflect.

“It was a different world; feminism has evolved and has continued to evolve, but it’s a little bit of a homage to all the people who've paved the way,” she says.

Walls is more circumspect on whether it’s time for a reminder of the hard-fought wins for women and the risks of losing them at a time when it feels like things are sliding backwards. In Still Working 9 to 5, Tomlin, Parton and Fonda spoke of the need for constant vigilance to ensure women’s rights hold and advance. As Fonda said, they made a comedy but it throws light into dark corners. The movement that inspired it started in the 1970s in the US by the National Association of Working Women and is still going.