University of Chichester students hit the stage with 9 To 5

SussexWorld

New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth is welcoming two new productions presented and performed by University of Chichester students. Following the success of Urinetown and The Clockmaker’s Daughter, The University of Chichester’s Musical Theatre Performance Company will return to the venue in 2024 with a double-bill of 9 To 5 The Musical and American Idiot.  Andrew Wright, the Musical Theatre Performance Company’s resident producer, said: “With music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and book by Patricia Resnick, 9 To 5 The Musical is based on the 1980 hit movie. Set in the late 1970s this hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era is outrageous and thought-provoking. Pushed to the boiling point, three female co-workers concoct a plan to get even with the sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot they call their boss. In a hilarious turn of events, Violet, Judy and Doralee live out their wildest fantasy – giving their boss the boot! Addressing a subject that continues to resonate in today’s world, enjoy the drama and experience the emotions of young women taking charge in the workplace. The performance will take place on Saturday January 27.

Transcript

00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor from Sussex Newspapers. Now, University

00:09 of Chichester musical theatre course is always fantastic, always brilliantly talented students.

00:14 Now, it's lovely to speak to Annabel and Pedro from the Musical Theatre Performance Company

00:19 and you've got a big, big production coming up. Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 musical, which you're

00:24 performing in Portsmouth, New Theatre Royal on January the 27th. Pedro, you are the baddie

00:31 in this, aren't you? How did that happen?

00:34 I am, I am indeed.

00:35 And he's horrible, isn't he? Tell me about him.

00:39 Yeah, it's a very, very challenging character to play because he's so... I'd like to think

00:43 I'm a lot nicer than he is. But yeah, it's a very fun character to play though as well

00:47 because it allows me to do things that I don't get to get away with in real life.

00:52 So set the scene then, Pedro. Where does he come in and why is he being so nasty and who's

00:56 he being nasty to?

00:59 Well, so the idea is he's been at this company for not that long a time, but very, very quickly

01:04 through not very hard work either, has made his way right to the top and he's the boss.

01:10 And a lot of the women who have been there a lot longer resent him for it, but also resent

01:13 him because he's a very, very, to quote the show, he's a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical

01:19 bigot.

01:20 So not a lot going for him really then?

01:24 Not really. I like to personally think just to give myself something to work with, he's

01:29 got a bit of a, almost a slimy charm that you can at least make people laugh with it.

01:35 But yeah, not a lot going for him.

01:37 And Annabelle, you're one of the people who's got to put up with him, aren't you?

01:42 I am. And it's very difficult, both as a character and me.

01:47 Because you're such a lovely person.

01:52 But you're playing Dorothy. Where does Dorothy come in? She's one of the women in the office

01:58 who does actually bring him down a lot, doesn't she?

02:02 She does. So she has been at the company for a while as well. And sort of, she's very,

02:08 very lovely and very kind to everyone around her. But she knows that heart is what it is,

02:19 but she kind of just gets on with it. Until she then sort of teams up with the other two

02:24 women and realise, you know what, actually, this is not okay. We need to do something

02:28 about it. And yeah.

02:29 Take me down.

02:30 Yeah, take you down basically.

02:31 And along the way, we get some fabulous songs from Annabelle. Brilliant.

02:36 Which are the best as far as you're concerned in this particular musical?

02:44 I think for me, personally, I've got a very special place for the song, 'I Just Might'.

02:51 It's very emotional. It's me and the other two leads, Judy and Violet. We all have our

02:58 own little sort of moment in the song about how we just might make it, essentially, in

03:10 the world. And it's very emotional. And I also love 'Shine Like The Sun'. It's kind

03:14 of like the before and after of meeting each other. And before we were a bit sort of downhearted

03:20 about it all. And in 'Shine Like The Sun', it's kind of the revolution of the three women

03:25 against heart, which is great.

03:26 Because it's a very optimistic musical, isn't it? It's about fighting, about claiming your

03:31 place, being yourself.

03:33 Definitely. Huge, huge level of empowerment throughout all of the songs and the whole

03:39 storyline through. And how three very different women as well, come from different places

03:46 and sort of realise that they have more going for them than what you've made them believe,

03:53 essentially. And it's really nice. It's really, really lovely.

03:56 It sounds fantastic. And Pedro, are you being examined on this?

04:01 We are not. This is very much an extracurricular of our course.

04:04 Does that make it easier?

04:06 It makes it easier, but also there's a certain extra level to it that obviously our course

04:12 leader who would normally be examining us is the producer overseeing everything. So

04:16 it's very much putting the work that we put in onto the course out into practice and getting

04:20 that experience.

04:21 The fact is, you are third years.

04:25 We are indeed.

04:26 Getting closer and closer to graduation. Pedro, tell me about the course. Have you enjoyed

04:30 it?

04:31 Yeah, it's been amazing. It's one of the quickest things because obviously it's nearly been

04:39 three years now, but I could tell you exactly what I had for lunch on my first day here.

04:44 It's been a very, very quick thing. And I think that's very much time flies when you're

04:47 having fun. It's also been one of the most hard and challenging experiences of my life

04:52 as well. But I'm eternally grateful for it.

04:55 Absolutely. And Annabel, do you feel that you're going to be ready for the big wide

04:58 world of showbiz out there when you graduate? Not so far away.

05:03 I want to say yes.

05:07 I mean, it's hard. No one ever really knows if they're ready or not. But I definitely

05:11 feel like looking back from me on the first day, complete difference in confidence and

05:19 ability and everything. So I definitely feel a lot more prepared to take on the next step.

05:25 But yeah, it's bittersweet, really. It's been so amazing and so much fun. And it's really

05:32 exciting to be able to get into the sort of big world and start doing other things. But

05:35 at the same time, you just want to do three years again, really.

05:39 30 days to flash by, don't they? But Pedro, do you think you've changed as a performer

05:45 in your time in Judaism?

05:47 Oh, completely. It was actually the other day I was watching videos of my initial audition

05:51 because I auditioned during the Covid years, and watching it back, it's a different person

05:59 completely.

06:00 A bit cringe, aren't they?

06:01 Yeah, it's one of those things that really like, it's difficult to watch, but you watch

06:05 it and you really like, see for the first time how much you've changed. Like, yeah,

06:10 I'm a completely different person, performer.

06:12 Well, that's encouraging, really encouraging.

06:14 Yeah, well, it makes me excited to see that if I've already taken these steps to get where

06:18 I am now, it's only onwards and upwards.

06:21 So Annabelle, when you start thinking about the future, what do you have to start doing?

06:25 Do you have to start approaching people before you graduate? What do you do?

06:31 Well, it's kind of the idea, but luckily our producer and course leader, Andrew Wright,

06:36 he's also put in place an agent panel day for us. So we actually have agents come in

06:42 and we prepare material where we could then be scouted out by one of them. So that's an

06:47 opportunity in itself while we're on the course.

06:49 And that's coming up soon.

06:51 Yeah, only in a couple of weeks. So it's quite daunting. And then it's kind of on us to sort

06:59 of invite agents to shows and reach out and audition and get on the spotlight as well,

07:05 the casting agency, which is all happening at once. It's very scary, but it's very exciting.

07:12 Very scary. One of the most competitive businesses you could possibly choose.

07:16 But it sounds like you've had very good preparation for that, haven't you?

07:20 Yeah, I think so. I think Andy has definitely helped us a lot, given us so many opportunities

07:28 where we can. So many opportunities that we can put on our CV and experience, then also

07:33 opportunities for just loads of different aspects of the performing industry that we

07:37 can get used to before actually going into it, which is really, really useful.

07:42 Fantastic. Well, wishing you both the very best of luck,

07:44 wishing everyone on the course the very best of luck, not just for this show, but for the future.

07:49 It's been great to speak to both of you and hope everything goes brilliantly. Thank you.

07:54 Thank you so much.

07:54 Thank you for having us.

07:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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