Post 9 TO 5: Lily and Jane Together Again

As Community Players gets ready to launch 9 to 5, the musical based on the film starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin, we get the news that Netflix is planning to reunite Fonda and Tomlin in a new comedy series.

Netflix has enjoyed success with original programming like Arrested Development, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, so it's no surprise they're continuing to look for projects. Fonda got great notices when she appeared in HBO's The Newsroom, while Tomlin got her start on Laugh-In and has shown up in everything from The West Wing to Desperate Housewives and Web Therapy in recent years, making it clear both actresses are open to TV. On the other hand, does Netflix really count as television? You can watch their shows on your TV, yes, but also on your laptop or iPad or whatever device you want, or have them send you the discs to pop in your DVD player, just like the other movies and shows they offer.

Whatever you want to call Netflix's corner of the entertainment world, you'll find Fonda and Tomlin there, playing characters named Grace and Frankie. Grace and Frankie is also slated to be the name of the series, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The two women are former enemies "whose lives are turned upside down when their husbands announce they are in love with each other and plan to get married. The women, much to their own dismay, find that their lives are permanently intertwined and, much to their surprise, they find they have each other."

Netflix has ordered 13 episodes and plans to air the show in 2015. Grace and Frankie is created and written by Marta Kauffman, who created Friends, and Howard Morris, producer of Home Improvement.

Morris and the other Home Improvement producers were nominated for an Emmy for Best Comedy Series, while Kauffman won in that category for Friends. But they are both lightweights compared to Tomlin, who's won five primetime Emmys and one for daytime, two Tonys, two Peabodys, a Grammy and the Mark Twain Prize for humor, along with an Oscar nomination for the movie Nashville. Fonda has won two Oscars -- for Klute and Coming Home -- with five more nominations. She also won an Emmy in 1984 for her performance in The Dollmaker and has been nominated twice since then, including last year for The Newsroom.

Fonda and Tomlin are big talents, let's put it that way. Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos is quoted as saying, "The show created for them by Marta and Howard is warm, very funny and anything but wholesome. We can't wait." in the Hollywood Reporter piece.

March Marches On

It's no secret that February's weather was terrible, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that I was under it -- under the weather, I mean -- for the last week of February. Or, actually, most of February. That means I am way behind on telling you what's happening in March, talking about the Oscars, bidding adieu to Downton Abbey for another season, or covering the shows that opened and closed during the time I was sick. It's been a rough month!

But now that it's March and I actually started the day without running a temp, let's try to pull ourselves out of February malaise and get on with the show.

"Ameowadeus" with Christoph Waltz (L) and Kevin Spacey (R)

As a side note to last night's Oscars, I do have to direct you to Youtube to see the Jimmy Kimmel parody videos. They mix Hollywood stars and dramatic tropes with favorite video memes, like "Charlie Bit Me" and the Keyboard Cat. I have watched the Keyboard Cat one ("Ameowadeus") with Kevin Spacey and Christoph Waltz at least twelve times already. And there are no words for "David After Dentist Double Rainbow Oh My God! in 3D" as a drug-induced Baz Luhrman hallucination involving Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Catherine Zeta Jones, Samuel L. Jackson and Seth Rogen.

Back in real life, Other Desert Cities continues this week at Heartland Theatre, turning in its last four performances on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The weekday shows begin at 7:30 pm, while the final Sunday matinee begins at 2 on March 9. Theater critic Nancy Steele Brokaw lauded the show's acting and emotional punch in her review for the Pantagraph, and audiences have been reporting they are blown away by director Sandra Zielinski's production of this Jon Robin Baitz drama about a wealthy family's secrets and lies.

Today is the big day -- Monday, March 3 -- when the net series Submissions Only finally returns to tell us what's been happening with unlucky New York actress Penny Reilly (co-creator Kate Wetherhead) as she navigates auditions, shows, the drama created by crazy colleagues and friends, and the hint of a thing with the adorable Aaron Miller (Santino Fontana). Submissions Only is addictive. If you haven't already seen all the episodes from season 1 and 2, you'll watch to catch those before diving into season 3 at BroadwayWorld.com starting at 8 Central time tonight. Once you've watched (or during your viewing experience) you can also chat with the cast on Twitter @submissionsonly between 8 and 9 pm Central/9 and 10 EST.

Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld takes the stage in the Tryon Festival Theatre at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana from March 6 to 9. This production is a product of the new musical theater/opera program at the University of Illinois called the Lyric Theatre @Illinois. Opera star Nathan Gunn currently holds the position of General Director for the Lyric Theatre, while his wife, pianist Julie Jordan Gunn, acts as the Director of Lyric Theatre Studies. Orpheus, described as "an irreverent romp through a lusty and lively heaven, hell, and earth," is one of three Lyric productions planned for this year, mixing musical theater with opera in an attempt to teach and nurture well-rounded performers who can sing, dance, act and entertain across disciplines.

If you're a baseball fan and you know your Bloomington-Normal history, you know about Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, the Hall of Fame pitcher buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Radbourn pitched what has been called "the winningest season in big league history," piling up 59 victories in the 1884 season on his way to a career total of 309 wins. He's been dead since 1897, but he has a Twitter account nonetheless, proving you can never truly silence an ornery, cantankerous baseball player. Old Hoss has shown up in the local Discovery Walk at Evergreen Cemetery, he's got a book about that amazing 59-win season, and now he's got a play. Playwright Jared Brown has put together a piece on Old Hoss for Illinois Voices Theatre in conjunction with the McLean County Museum of History. Rhys Lovell, who portrayed Radbourn in the cemetery walk, returns to play the role, accompanied by actors John Bowen and Howard Rogers. They'll play out this new take on Radbourn's colorful life in three performances March 7, 8 and 9 in the Governor Fifer Courtroom at the McLean County Museum. Tickets are priced at $15 for the general public and $12 for members of the Museum. You can purchase tickets in person at the Museum or by phone at 309-827-0428.

Community Players is back in the game starting March 20, when they open 9 to 5 the Musical, the stage (and, yes, musical) version of the 1980 comedy film that starred Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin as three working women trying to make a living in a hostile corporate world. Dolly Parton wrote the title song for the film and the score for the Broadway show and she certainly knows her way around a pop tune. For Players, Brett Cottone directs a cast that includes Kallie Bundy, Wendi Fleming and Aimee Kerber as the three friends who take drastic action against a sexist pig of a boss, with Mark Robinson as the pig in question. Performances of 9 to 5 continue through April 6 at Community Players.

Next up at Illinois State University is the docu-drama The Exonerated, written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen and based on real trial transcripts, court documents and interviews with death row inmates who'd been wrongfully convicted. What do you do when you know you're innocent but the justice system has completely failed you? Even after the miracle of exoneration, how do you go back to living a life unscarred by what you've been through? Director Cyndee Brown brings this call to action to the ISU Center for the Performing Arts in a special benefit performance on March 21, followed by a short run in Centennial West 207 from March 27 to April 5. Brown's cast includes Nate Aikens, Mary DeWitt, Levi Ellis, Joe Faifer, Anastasia Ferguson, Gregory D. Hicks, Thomas Howie, Tim Jefferson, Dave Krostal and Cydney Moody as exonerees, witnesses, police, attorneys and other interested parties. CW 207 is a small space, so get your tickets now. You can pretty much bet The Exonerated will sell out fast.

A movie I am very much looking forward to -- Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel -- has been announced for a March 28 opening at the Art Theater Co-op in Champaign. Wes Anderson is an either/or proposition for me. I loved Moonrise Kingdom and Rushmore, but was unimpressed and uninvolved with The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Steve Zissou landed somewhere in the middle, but probably closer to the wrong side. Will The Grand Budapest Hotel be a dream or a dud? Based on the trailer and the amazing cast (Ralph Fiennes, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, F. Murray Abraham, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Tom Wilkinson, Jude Law, and of course Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman) it looks like it should be right in my wheelhouse.

Auditions January 27-29 at Community Players for 9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL

Sing it with me... Working nine to five, what a way to make a living...

If you know that song by heart, if you are a big Dolly Parton fan, you'll want to know about auditions for Community Players' production of the musical 9 to 5, coming up at 7 pm on January 27, 28 and 29.

The idea of women fighting back and taking over the workplace was a big deal in 1980, those days of power suits and ties (or floppy bows, to offer a girly version of ties). That's when Patricia Resnick and Colin Higgins put together Nine to Five the movie, with Lily Tomlin as a no-nonsense office administrator unhappy doing all the work and getting none of the credit, Dolly Parton as a curvy secretary sick of being judged by her curves, and Jane Fonda as a newbie in the office steno pool, just trying to figure out what's what. Dabney Coleman did a memorable turn as their sexist pig of a boss, the one they plot against.

Since Dolly Parton wrote the title song, complete with percussion from her fingernails, it might've seemed like a no-brainer to get her to write a whole score and turn it into a musical. That did happen, but not till 2008, which is kind of a strange time to resurrect this very 80s -- or even late 70s -- view of the battle of the sexes, or at least the battle of the sexes in the work arena.

But resurrected it was, hitting Broadway in 2009 with a complete Parton score and book by the same Patricia Resnick who cowrote the screenplay for the 1980 movie. Dolly herself was too old to play Doralee by that point, so Megan Hilty took the role, alongside Allison Janney as Violet, the Tomlin role, and Stephanie J. Block as Judy, the woman Fonda played.

Brett Cottone will direct this 9 to 5 for Players, with support from producer John Lieder, assistant director Austin Travis, vocal director Eugene Phillips Jr., choreographer Chris Terven, costume designer Alan Wilson, lighting designer Dan Virtue and sound designer Rich Plotkin.

 

Cottone is looking for a big cast, approximately 20 people ages 18 to 60, to fill out the workforce at Consolidated Industries, including several women who are overworked and unappreciated and a big boss who is a "sexist egotistical lying hypocritical bigot." Here's how Cottone breaks down the roles he needs to fill:

VIOLET – 40s to early 50s. Attractive, strong, ambitious woman. Stands up for what she believes in. Head secretary and Mr. Hart’s administrative assistant. She is also a single mother of a teenager.

DORALEE – late 20s to late 30s. Sexy in a wholesome country singer way. Character should “suggest” Dolly Parton-like character but not an impersonator. Needs to sing country.

JUDY – late 20s to late 30s. Attractive, insecure, at first afraid of being on her own but later becomes empowered and strong. She is the “new” girl. Husband just left her for his secretary.

ROZ KEITH – late 30s to 40s. The office kiss-up and second to the boss, a gossip, has an unrequited love for her boss and will do anything to win his approval.

FRANKLIN HART – 40s to 50s. Arrogant, self-absorbed, male chauvinist corporate 70s boss. Is capable of a surface, smarmy charm.

MISSY – 40s to 50s. Hart’s wife. Fluttery and ditzy.

JOE – 20s to 30s. The cute, young, office accountant. He’s smitten with VIOLET.

DICK – 30s to 40s. Judy’s soon-to-be ex-husband. Average middle-aged guy, sporting a little less hair and a little more paunch than he did ten years ago.

DWAYNE – 20s to early 30s. Doralee’s husband, very supportive of Doralee.

JOSH – 18 to early 20's (must look young) Violet’s teenage son.

MARGARET – any age. Secretary. The office lush.

ENSEMBLE (singers / dancers) – 18 to 60s

For more information, check Community Players' 9 to 5 webpage or Facebook page. Performances are scheduled to begin March 21.

Community Players Out of the Gate Fast Announcing 2013-14 Season

Now that it's 2013, Community Players isn't wasting any time. Yesterday, they made their big 2013-14 announcement, cluing everyone in on what they'll be performing on Robinhood Lane through July 27, 2014.

What do they have planned? A challenging season, mixing stage classics with some spiffy new musicals.

When I saw the first two choices, I thought maybe they going to do a whole season of Plays Beginning with A. That might be fun, but for right now, they'll start with the musical Aida in July, 2013, and head on to Arsenic and Old Lace in September.

This Aida (as opposed to the Verdi opera) is a power ballad bonanza, with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang. It's a love story about the transcendent connection between an Egyptian military man, one Radames, and a Nubian captive named Aida. On Broadway, Aida won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and Best Performance by a Leading Actress for Heather Headley, who played Aida.

Arsenic and Old Lace is a totally different kettle of fish. This comedy classic, performed by countless theaters, schools and community organizations, has great roles -- Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha -- for ladies of a certain age. Mortimer Brewster's two aunts are lovely and sweet, providing both the lace and the arsenic, as it happens, knocking off old older gentlemen who stop by their parlor with poisoned elderberry wine. They're only doing it to be kind to these lonely souls, and also to provide "yellow fever" victims for their brother Teddy, who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, to bury in the basement, where he thinks he is digging the Panama Canal. It's dark humor and decidedly funny, as poor Mortimer gets put through the wringer by all the nonsense going on in the Brewster household.

In November, Players will unveil Monty Python's Spamalot, the musical version of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail that won the Tony for Best Musical on Broadway in 2005. Monty Python member Eric Idle wrote the book and the lyrics and contributed to the score with John Du Prez and Neil Innes. Spamalot is a decidedly irreverent retelling of  Arthurian legends, with a little Fish Slapping, some Laker Girls and Las Vegas style entertainment, as well as jokes at the expense of Broadway itself.

That will be followed by a radio play version of It's a Wonderful Life, in December, of course, and the drama The Diary of Anne Frank to start 2014. The original stage version of Anne Frank, adapted by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett from the diaries the young schoolgirl wrote while hiding out from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic during World War II, played on Broadway in 1955. A new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman also came to Broadway, this time in 1997, with Natalie Portman in the title role. The newly adapted Diary of Anne Frank is scheduled for performances from January 17 to 26, 2014, at Community Players.

The March musical choice is Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, the show IWU performed last semester. Dolly wrote the score, while Patricia Resnick contributed the book of this female empowerment musical that takes a leap back to the late 70s to show the comical side of revenge against a male chauvinist pig. Remember when we said "male chauvinist pig"? I do!

9 to 5 will be followed by Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, with performances from May 16 to 25. The Odd Couple is a perennial favorite, with the original stageplay, film and TV versions, scripts written for men and for women playing the mismatched roommates, and a 2002 updated Odd Couple (called Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple) that includes more current references. Which one is Community Players performing? We'll have to wait till we're a little closer to find out. (The image at right is from the film version, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. A little bit of trivia: Matthau was also in the Broadway original, where he played Oscar opposite Art Carney's Felix.)

The last show of this ambitious season will be Shrek the Musical, a Broadway show about a sweet green ogre and the enchanted princess he falls in love with. Lots of fairytale humor in this one, with a prince who is not at all charming, exiled fairies and elves and Pinocchio, and a talking donkey who becomes Shrek's best pal. Jeanine Tesori wrote the music for Shrek the Musical, while playwright David Lindsay-Abaire contributed both the lyrics and the book. The wonderful Brian d'Arcy James and Sutton Foster played Shrek and his beloved Princess Fiona on Broadway. And Christopher Sieber, one of the original cast members of Spamalot, took on the diminutive Prince Farquaard, the bad guy in the mix.

For schedule details and audition dates for all these shows, check out the Facebook announcement from Community Players here.

Dancing Back to 1979 with 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL at IWU

Nine to Five, the 1980 movie, was very much a piece of its time. This bright, cheerful flick about women's empowerment in the workplace gave us Dolly Parton in her film debut, plus she contributed the bouncy title song, set to the clicketyclack of a typewriter.

Dolly was always an original, a natural, somebody whose bodacious exterior belied her brains and talent. When she played Doralee, a secretary whose bodacious exterior belied her brains and efficiency, it was a perfect fit.

9 to 5: The Musical is full of Dolly Parton's music, and the character of Doralee is very much like Dolly, no matter who's playing the role. That's a double-edged sword, however. It gives the show a certain energy and charm, especially in the music, but without Dolly herself pulling you along for the ride, the flaws in the book (written by Patricia Resnick, co-screenwriter back in 80) are more apparent.

Or maybe it's just that 2009 isn't the same as 1979, and what seemed funny and righteous then seems kind of tacky, kind of wrong now. As 9 to 5: The Musical unfolds, as underappreciated, mistreated Doralee, Violet and Judy kidnap and immobilize Franklin Hart, their sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot of a boss so that they can run the biz, as Resnick's script wends its way through various fantasy sequences, including the lurid and squicky sexual yearnings of uptight office drone Roz, who has a thing for Mr. Hart, things get a little unpleasant. Why is it so wrong for Hart to demand that Violet get his coffee, but dandy for Violet to make Roz go get hers? Are we supposed to think Hart is a pig for ogling Doralee's butt when she fantasizes about branding his? There's a crudeness to the situations it's hard to get past.

Judy (Christine Polich) arrives for work in 9 to 5:The Musical

Still, director Scott Susong and his able cast at Illinois Wesleyan make the most of what 9 to 5: The Musical offers. Kate Rozycki is a warm and appealing Violet, and Christine Polich is reminiscent of the fabulous Christine Ebersole with her tuneful, graceful turn as Judy. As Doralee, Lizzie Rainville is in the unenviable position of trying to compete with Dolly Parton, plus her wardrobe is curiously buttoned-up, undermining her "Backwoods Barbie" image, but she's sunny and fun, and her red cowboy boots are adorable.

Kristin Ellert's burnt orange and olive green scenic design (see the poster, way up at the top) is also nifty, with set pieces flying in and out smoothly and Joshua Levinson's Mr. Hart flying up and down (as in the image at left).

In general, the costumes, courtesy designers Maggie Sheridan and Marcia K. McDonald, are kicky, bringing back the late 70s and all that era's sartorial disasters in living color. And wait till you get a load of Elaina Henderson's wigs and hair designs... Mullets! Wispy shags! Wings!

Kudos also to Jean MacFarland Kerr for choreographing funky dance numbers that fill the stage with maximum moves and minimum people. There are quite a few production numbers built into the show, and they all come off well.

9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL
Music and lyrics by Dolly Parton
Book by Patricia Resnick

Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts
McPherson Theatre

Director: Scott Susong
Scenic Designer: Kristin Ellert
Costume Designers: Maggie Sheridan and Marcia K. McDonald
Lighting Designer: Stephen Sakowski
Sound Designer: Ian Scarlato
Assistant Director: Anna Klemperer
Musical Supervisor/Conductor: Saundra DeAthos-Meers
Musical Director: Saul Nache
Choreographer: Jean MacFarland Kerr

Cast: Heather Priedhorsky, Patsita Jiratipayabood, Jack Courtard, Emilie Hanlet, Savannah Sleevar, Halimah Nurullah, Katryce Bridges, Jenna Haimes, Marek Zurowski, Adam Walleser, T. Isaac Sherman, Kate Rozycki, Jacob Sussina, Mandi Corrao, Lizzie Rainville, Will Henke, Adrienne Fisk, Annie Kehler, Kayla White, Ian Stewart, Jordan Lipes, Zach Wagner, Brittany Ambler, Joey Chu, Christine Polich, Elliott Plowman, Joshua Levinson.

Remaining performances: November 16 and 17 at 8 pm, and November 18 at 2 pm

Running time: 2:15, including one 15-minute intermission

For ticket information, click here.

IWU's 9 TO 5: THE MUSICAL Opens Tuesday at McPherson Theatre

Working nine to five
What a way to make a living
Barely getting by
It's all taking and no giving
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It's enough to make you crazy if you let it!

Dolly Parton won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for an Oscar for the music and lyrics of that breezy, catchy little song, set to the beat of a typewriter and written for the movie Nine to Five. Parton also starred in the movie, playing Doralee, a smart, good-hearted secretary who bands together with two friends, played by Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, when they aren't treated right at work. Fed up by their sexist pig of a boss who never gives them credit, the three comically turn the tables, trapping him in his own house and running the company by themselves.

The film was turned into a stage musical called, conveniently enough, 9 to 5: the Musical, almost 30 years after the movie, with lots of new songs supplied by Parton and a book written by Patricia Resnick, the same person credited for the screenplay for the original Nine to Five along with its director, Colin Higgins.

This time out, 9 to 5 starred Allison Janney (The West Wing) as Violet, the Lily Tomlin role, Stephanie J. Block (The Pirate Queen) taking over as Judy, the character Jane Fonda played on screen, and newcomer Megan Hilty as Doralee, Parton's role. Like Block, Hilty was best known at that point as a replacement for one of the leads in Wicked. After 9 to 5, she broke out on TV's Smash, the weird musical drama with all kinds of problems, not the least of which is pretending that Hilty doesn't overshadow the competition.

The stage musical is bright and bouncy, with three good roles for women and one -- the dastardly boss -- for a man. On Broadway, Marc Kudisch took that role, earning a Tony nomination along with Janney, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, and Dolly Parton's score. All three actresses were nominated for Drama Desk Awards, with Janney taking it home.

All of that means that there should be plenty of opportunities for Illinois Wesleyan's cast and crew to shine as they present 9 to 5: The Musical at McPherson Theatre starting Tuesday night at 8 pm. Assistant Professor Scott Susong, whose work on shows like Hello Again and Once Upon a Mattress has been terrific in the past, directs this 9 to 5 with a cast of 27, which includes Christine Polich, Lizzie Rainville and Kate Rozycki as Judy, Doralee and Violet, respectively. Josh Levinson plays creepy Franklin M. Hart, Jr. (Or, you know, the Big Bad Boss.)

For this Illinois Wesleyan School of Theatre Arts production, Jean MacFarland Kerr choreographs, while Saul Nache acts as musical director and Saundra DeAthos-Meers conducts.

9 to 5: The Musical opens Tuesday, November 13, and continues through the 18th, with performances at 8 pm Tuesday through Saturday and a 2 pm matinee on Sunday. For ticket information, click here to see the IWU Theatre box office page.

Lots of Theatre Coming Up in 2012-13 at IWU School of Theatre Arts

So far this Spring, we've talked about what ISU and Community Players are doing in 2012-13, as well as a few Chicago theater companies. Now we turn our attention to Illinois Wesleyan University and their 2012-2013 School of Theatre Arts season.

IWU's School of Theatre Arts always manages to surprise me. After going for provocative, darker musicals like Stephen Sondheim's "Passion" and Michael John LaChiusa's "Hello Again," IWU is taking a more cheerful, straight-down-the-middle-of-the-plate approach to its big musical, plus offering a Shakespeare comedy and two well-regarded "sister" plays that seem just right for the college theater setting. And then there's the last choice, a three-playwright collaboration reflecting on the New Orleans hurricane and devastation. It's fairly new (2008) and completely new to me. As I said, IWU continues to surprise!

They will open their season in McPherson Theatre with "A Shayna Maidel," Barbara Lebow's 1985 play about two Polish Jewish sisters torn apart by the Holocaust. Rose White and her father have been safe in New York since she was a toddler, but her sister was left behind. Rose (original name: Reyzel Weiss) has been acclimated and assimilated, but it's all new to her sister Lusia, just now able to come to America after surviving the concentration camps. "A Shayna Maidel" means "a pretty girl" in Yiddish. As it happens, one of my grandmother's sisters was named Shayna but called Sophie in the U.S; until we found her birth records on the family tree, the only "Shayna" I knew was in the title of this play. The 1992 TV movie version of the play was titled "Miss Rose White," looking to the American side of the character rather than the Yiddish one. Professor Nancy Loitz will direct "A Shayna Maidel" for IWU.

The fall musical will be the bright and breezy "9 to 5," directed by Assistant Professor Scott Susong in McPherson Theatre. The original "9 to 5" was a Dolly Parton/Lily Tomlin/Jane Fonda chick flick, with Dolly writing the hit title song. Parton wrote a bunch more songs to turn it into "9 to 5: The Musical." Allison Janney took on the Lily Tomlin role, while Megan Hilty (now a smash on "Smash") created the role of Doralee, who is very much like Ms. Parton, for the stage, with American Idol's Diana Degarmo taking Doralee on the national tour. "9 to 5" is about three women toiling at a large company in the early 80s, trying very hard to keep their wits about them even when treated terribly by a creepy sexist boss. When their problems with the boss escalate, they undertake a crazy scheme to keep him tied up and hanging from the ceiling of his own home, and then they run the company (beautifully) in his absence. Patricia Resnick co-wrote the screenplay and wrote the book for "9 to 5: The Musical," which was nominated for 4 Tony Awards and 15 Drama Desk Awards in 2009. And here's the "9 to 5" story in under ten minutes, if you'd like to see what Janney and Hilty looked like in the roles.

Also in McPherson, Assistant Professor Thomas Quinn will direct Shakespeare's "As You Like It," the romantic comedy with the lovely Rosalind on the lam in the forest of Arden, dressed as a boy and supposedly teaching Orlando, the boy she has a bit of a crush on, how to woo like a man. There are accompanying rustics, Rosalind's jester Touchstone, a gloomy philosopher named Jacques who gives the famous "Seven Ages of Man" speech, and a couple of Dukes, one who usurped the other's position. "As You Like It" will also be part of this summer's Illinois Shakespeare Festival, if you would like to see both and compare/contrast.

The annual Faculty Choreographed Dance Concert rounds out the McPherson schedule, this one directed by Associate Professor Jean McFarland Kerr, who recently did such fine work on "Promenade."

Over in the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Laboratory Theatre, you'll see Shelagh Stevenson's "The Memory of Water," directed by undergrad Kristyn Kuzinar. "The Memory of Water" looks at three sisters gathering for their mother's funeral. The title's "memory" comes into play both because their mother suffered from Alzheimer's and because they each remember the events of their childhood differently, as siblings often do. Memory is a hazy, unreliable issue for each of them. There is another play I often confuse with this one, demonstrating my own unreliable memory. But, no, this is not Lee Blessing's "A Body of Water," which is also about people who struggle with what they do and do not remember.

The other play they've scheduled for the Lab Theatre is "The Breach," a 2008 play by Catherine Filloux, Tarell McCraney and Joe Sutton. The three playwrights wrote three different intertwined stories to tell what happened to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It's not just about devastation on the human level, but about heroism, politics and water. There is a lot of water in "The Breach." This play will be directed by Raven Stubbs, also an undergrad in IWU's Theater program.

That leaves one or two titles still to be announced for the Kirkpatrick Lab Theatre. I'll report back as soon as I hear. In the meantime, you can read up on these shows and get ready for what you'll see in the fall.