Reflections on "9 To 5: The Musical"
Cast members reflect on the success of the recent Bethel College musical production.
Over the past several days, Bethel College’s theater department has performed multiple showings of “9 to 5: The Musical.” Official showings ran from Thursday through Sunday and offered the Bethel community multiple chances to watch the talented students that make up the college’s theater department.
“9 to 5: The Musical” is a particularly entertaining piece that uses aspects of hurt, passion, and humor to express the life of a woman working a job 9 to 5. This musical features a book written by Patricia Resnick and is based on the original movie from 1980 directed by Colin Higgins.
It carried the theme of women’s empowerment in the 1980s and continues to send the same important messages to this day. The movie and corresponding musical have lyrics and songs written by Dolly Parton.
Emily Guldner played the lead role of a secretary named Violet. She portrayed the character beautifully, while only having a little over a month to prepare. Guldner states, “We had a really big team working together with a whole bunch of really awesome leaders.”
When asked how she stepped into character, Guldner said, “I wanted to portray Violet as a powerful woman in charge. This is the kind of powerful woman we need to see.”
Rowen Schulz played the role of a boss named Franklin Hart. Hart was a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot” who tried to keep women like Violet from reaching their full potential. Having to play a character with such a strong personality can be daunting, but Schulz’s ability to bring the harsh character to life was impeccable.
“I was very excited because I knew this was a big role.” Schulz expressed, “It did kind of hit me, though, that I was going to be playing a character who is a disgusting person.” Even though Schulz played the part superbly, he and the cast knew his role was to accurately convey the reality of the character.
“9 to 5: The Musical” was a great success and we look forward to watching many more productions from our theater department.