With its uniquely humorous plot, YLHS’s spring musical “9 to 5” absolutely entertained its audience. From its underlying witty humor to its direct inappropriate comments, this musical provided room for plenty of laughter. After enjoying hilarious acting and fantastic vocals, I applaud our school’s musical theatre department on such a successful production.

The musical is based on the movie written and produced by country singer Dolly Parton. The stage is set in the 1950’s, when women typically worked day jobs with hours 9am to 5pm as secretaries in offices. The problem in the show is the recurring issue during this time period that women were underpaid for their work and taken advantage of by sexist men who viewed women solely as objects that they use and abuse. In this show, the hypocritical boss eventually realizes his wrongdoings after being literally kidnapped by three women in the office. By mixing exaggerated humor with real historical (and also modern) conflicts, 9 to 5 successfully entertained its audiences.

It is quite obvious as an audience member that the cast appeared to be extremely close knit and supportive. As one of the characters in the show, Ian Dembeck (11) describes that “being in a show directed by Ms. Petz with a cast that truly feels like a family is like a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Although the musical was a couple weeks ago, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and getting several good laughs in. My favorite parts included solos by either the boss’s hilarious female secretary who was secretly in love with him or the boss himself, because he was so inappropriate and arrogant that his crude remarks proved to be comical.

For those of you who were not able to see this incredible production unfortunately, just know that there will be more shows next year. After observing such hard work pay off in an amazing show, I have a newfound appreciation and respect for musical theatre students. Along with their schoolwork, they devote numerous hours to singing, dancing, and acting in order to put on such entertaining performances.

Personally, I think every student should attend a school musical or play at least once in high school. Although you may not be the theater type, you may be surprised at how much you actually enjoy the performance. It will be worth it in the end, and you will realize how incredibly talented musical theater students are.