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One of the ’80s most memorable movies will be brought to life in Pleasanton this month as students from Foothill and Amador Valley high schools perform a musical rendition of the workplace comedy “9 to 5”.
Foothill English and drama teacher Dax Treible, who is also serving as a producer and technical director for the show, told the Weekly that he is excited to see the students get on stage this Friday and showcase all the hard work they have been putting in over the last three months.
“It’s a great opportunity to support the students, to support art,” Treible said. “It’s a nice feel-good comedy; it’s a way to experience some live theater that might otherwise be inaccessible.”
Based on the 1980 film “9 to 5” featuring legendary actress Jane Fonda and musical icon Dolly Parton, the musical follows two office workers who end up helping their co-worker Violet (played on screen by famed comedian Lily Tomlin) kidnap their sexist, egotistical and bigoted boss who typically humiliates, takes advantage and is condescending to his staff.
Backed by an orchestra who will be playing the original score written by Parton, the musical will have heavy themes of female empowerment and friendship, which Treible said he can’t wait for audiences to experience.
More than 60 students from both of Pleasanton’s comprehensive high schools are involved in the technical and acting sides of the production. After having gone through the audition process since early December, the team of students are in the last leg of rehearsals now as they began stage rehearsals at the Amador Theater in preparation for opening night this week.
Daniel Mobraaten, a senior at Foothill who is a stage manager for the show, told the Weekly that those stage rehearsals are actually one of his favorite moments of the entire production process.
“Usually the most exciting day for me is the day that everything comes together,” Mobraaten said. “You do the run-through where you have the actors on stage doing their thing, the band doing their thing, the sets moving on and off. The first time the show fully comes together is usually the best day of the production.”
Treible said that was also one of his favorite moments so far in the production because the student actors really get to see the sets and what everything will look like in the theater.
“All the hard work that they’ve been doing for the past two, three months, finally now has a vision,” he said. “Kind of culminates in like this is the moment, this is where it’s real. This is the performance.”
While Treible said that he isn’t as nervous as he is excited for the students to hit the ground running on opening day, Mobraaten said that he is a bit nervous being a first-time stage manager. But he also said that he mostly just wants his friends to do as good as they can and just have fun with the show.
For folks who might be on the fence of attending the two-hour-long play, Treible said that the major toll live theater took after having to shut down during the pandemic – coupled with the fact that might be one of the last shows at the Amador Theater before the district replaces it with a modern facilities thanks to the $395 million Measure I bond money – are good reasons why people should check out this musical.
Mobraaten, on the other hand, said that as a student, he knows how difficult it is to convince other students to check out a musical, play or really any live theater at school.
“I remember from last year’s musical, ‘Mamma Mia’, I had some trouble convincing my friends to go and see it because definitely theater isn’t something that a lot of kids are not excited to go see, especially when there’s a price tag involved,” he said.
But he also said that his friends who did go and see that musical last year were surprised at how good the music, the singing and the acting all were, which is an experience he said can’t be found anywhere else.
“I think that getting that live music experience with an audience and being part of that crowd and getting kind of swept up in the storytelling of the songs is just an experience you can’t really get anywhere else,” Mobraaten said.
Six showings of “9 to 5 the Musical” are set to run from this Friday (March 8) through next Sunday (March 17), with varied start times. Tickets and more information can be found at the Firehouse Arts Center website.
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