An enduring love of Dolly Parton brings a musical production of her 1980s movie 9 to 5 to Ballarat for one of the show's first regional renditions.
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BLOC Music Theatre will be running the musical production from July 4 to July 14 at Ballarat Civic Hall which will feature big wigs, big dance numbers and hopefully some big laughs.
One of the three leading ladies, Jess Wilkinson, spoke to The Courier about the upcoming musical comedy.
"It's a really, really good soundtrack," she said.
"There's some fabulous songs in the show."
The music for the theatre production was written by Parton, who starred in the original 1980 movie with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda - and of course, the show like the movie features the hit song '9 to 5'.
"The show is based on the movie, which is three women working in a business with a horrible, misogynistic boss who treats them like crap, and they basically take charge of the company," Ms Wilkinson said.
She will play country girl Doralee, who Dolly Parton played in 1980 - the other two leading characters are Violet and Judy.
"My favourite scene which is from the movie, is where Doralee tells the boss to back off and stop grabbing and chasing her around because she's got a gun in her purse and if he doesn't back off, she'll turn him from a rooster to a hen," Ms Wilkinson said.
"Meaning she'll shoot his d--- off."
Even 40 years later, the story still resonates with people, along with the "glitz and glamour" of Dolly Parton.
"It's pretty timely in terms of women taking charge in this day and age," she said.
"It's good commentary on how things used to be in the late '70s and '80s, particularly women in the workplace, they were looked down on.
"There is a great song and speech at the end of the show by the character Violet about how much women have to look after their kids, get lunch ready, take their kids to school, they look after their husband and they're still working a full-time job.
"It's a good reflection on how far women have come in the workplace."
Tickets to the show are available online.
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