"9 To 5 - The Musical" by Nottingham Medics Musical.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

For anyone who has never seen a show by the Nottingham Medics, the fourth year medical students put on a full blown musical every year, working around studies, lessons and exams. With this group's dedication, I am sure that the exam results will be as successful as this musical has been for them.

Based on the 1980 movie of the same name, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and the book by Patricia Resnick. It’s set in the late 1970’s and is a story of friendship and revenge and even a little romance thrown into the mix.

Three female office co-workers, Violet, Judy and Doralee concoct a plan to get even with their sexist, egotistical, hypocritical, lying bigot of a boss, Franklin Hart. While the boss is “busy”, the trio give their workplace a makeover and take control of the company that had always held them back.

Normally when this musical is staged, we first see the real Dolly Parton open the show on screen. In this production, Dolly is played live by Emily Asti who does the introductions to the musical and the characters.

Doralee Rhodes, the sexy Southern belle becomes the subject of many of the office rumours based purely on what Hart has said, is played by Tilly Bedford. I was well impressed with her Southern accent and is a great fun part. I love the song "Backwoods Barbie", showing that the fun, blonde character also has a human side.

Doralee's husband, Dwayne is played by Vaibhav Iyer, who has a really good singing voice, sounding very country-fied.

Violet Newstead, the office manager who, while Hart is in charge will never be CEO. Played by Josie Cunnington, she gives a really powerful performance as the frustrated office manager. Josie produces powerful vocals to match the performance.

Judy Bernly is the nearly divorced lady who is a novice office worker, and is played by Jillian Ee. When she sung "Get Out And Stay Out", she showed off an emotional and power packed set of vocal chords. A lovely comedy performance as well which also showed the character getting stronger and more self empowered all the way to the final. Judy's soon to be ex-husband, Dick, is played by Matt West.

The scene where the three office buddies go back to Violet's is one of the most comedic I have seen. This is due to the addition of a can of squirty cream, and that is all I will say, but is another one of those directorial amendments that added a few extra giggles to the musical.

The other three secretaries are played by Molly Smith (Margaret), Robin Ojany (Maria) and Anya Soin (Kathy).

 Naomi Beale also turns in a brilliant comedy performance as Hart's love smitten secretary, Roz Keith. Her big song "Heart To Hart" normally accompanies a big transformation for Roz, but in this production there's no big transformation. Instead, everything comes from the sultry singing and looks, because we all know what Roz would like to do to, and with him, we didn't need to see what was under that tightly fastened office wear to know that this woman is oozing with naughtiness. Sometimes less can be more, and that worked very well in this scene.

Playing the sexist, egotistical, hypocritical, lying bigot of a boss, Hart is a brave man indeed, Oliver Wilkinson. The things those women do to him! His "Here For You" is delivered with a brilliant over confident, overly sexist tone. A wonderful performance which I imagine is such a great part for any male actor to get his teeth into, as long as you have a strong pain threshold. Missy Hart, Franklin Hart’s clueless wife is played by Roni Altman.

The other main male role is Joe, who has a bit of a crush on the older Violet. Played by Josh Howard who also gets to show off his fine singing voice in the duet with Josie  of "Let Love Grow".

Joe Park plays the detective; Benedict Tate is Mr Tinsworthy and Andy Green is the Doctor.

The female ensemble consist of Ellie Purcell, Aisling Reid, Sarah Sprague, Emily Asti, Anya Soin, Molly Smith, Meg Henly, Roni Altman and Rioghnach Barlow.

Mentions also for Ellie Pritchard, Sinead Stenson, Madeline Messenger, Annalise Kennea, Esther Sleigh, Robin Ojany, Talia Patel, Raisa Jeffer, Eleanor Andrew, Lucy Revitt and Aashlesha Galla.

The male ensemble consist of Ben Tate, Vaibhav Iyer, Joe Park, Oliver Ward, James Winfield, Miles Thomas, Matt west, Jack Berg, Max Smith and Oliver Cujic.

The tap dancing scene was one of the dance highlights and featured, instead of four main male dancers, four female dancers as well as Violet, intensifying sisterhood in the work place. The male dancers really threw themselves into the choreography and looked like they were having the time of their lives. It's also a tribute to the wonderful choreography by Meg Henly. With so many strong female roles in this play, the male dancers definitely held their own.

As well as taking the huge choreography task, the show was also directed by Meg Henly, assisted by Lizzie McShane. I've seen this musical several times over the years and what I particularly liked about this production were the little changes. The "dream" sequences that the three ladies had while "relaxing" were slightly different, especially Violet's where instead of cute little woodland furry animals, we saw cute little, and some quite burly, male ballet dancers in multi-coloured tutus! A good Director is not afraid to make changes to script to make the scenes different. This is just one of the changes that I spotted; changes that kept this reviewer on his toes!

Produced by Ellie Purcell, a role that nearly always gets missed from reviews of the show, but worthy of a mention here.

Naomi Beale is the Vocal Director, making sure that the cast deliver solid, and safe, vocal performances. I can confirm that Naomi has done a great job with the cast, and such a big cast as well.

The Musical Director is Ryan Latham. I love Country music and Ryan and the orchestra created that Nashville feel. I especially noted the guitar style and also spotted an accordion in one section, whether that be a synthesised one or an actual accordion, it sounded great, as did the whole soundtrack, and it's always great to hear the music played live.

Sound is by Rob Kettridge. There was just the one slight mic miss cue, which no one but myself would have noticed. A big, clear and punchy sound which was well mixed with the band's sound.

Lighting is by Evie Webster. There are a couple of parts in this musical that really require well timed lighting, and I am pleased to say that these parts were spot on, matching the whole lighting design and operation.

As good and as professionally produced and presented as last year's "Rent", which I also loved. there are some fantastic singers in this group and some wonderful actors and dancers. All this talent and the future ability to save your life as a medic.

"9 To 5 The Musical" has just one more show this Saturday night.