Vintage Theatre’s lively production delivers laughs and heart — though minor technical hiccups hold it back at times.

There are few workplace comedies as enduring as 9 to 5. The 1980 film remains a quintessential feminist satire about corporate culture in which friendship becomes a survival strategy and revenge a management style.

Vintage Theatre’s current production of 9 to 5: The Musical, co-directed by Dana Hart Wright and Paul Page as part of the company’s 25th season, largely lives up to that legacy with a funny, fast-paced staging that leans into both the story’s absurdity and its still-relevant politics.

Set in the late 1970s, the musical follows Violet Newstead (Nancy Evans Begley), Doralee Rhodes (Sarah Kit Farrell) and Judy Bernly (Abby McInerney) as they band together to confront their sexist boss Franklin Hart Jr. (Keith Hershman). After a comic mishap with rat poison convinces them that they may have accidentally killed him, the trio decides to kidnap Franklin and run the office themselves, enacting long-overdue reforms that improve the workplace.

The story’s arc works well on stage, buoyed by Dolly Parton’s country-inflected score, which gives emotional clarity to each woman’s journey from frustration to empowerment. More importantly, Vintage’s production works because its three leads commit to playing the stakes honestly rather than leaning on the show’s campy premise, grounding the comedy in recognizable workplace resentment and making the eventual takeover feel earned.

A strong trio works the stage

Begley’s Violet is cool, collected and quietly simmering with resentment at being repeatedly passed over for promotions. Her dry comedic instincts keep the character grounded even as the plot veers toward farce and her vocal work is assured.

McInerney’s Judy begins the show in a near-constant state of emotional collapse after being left by her husband for “a 19-year-old named Mindy. With an I!” but grows into herself with impressive vocal confidence, particularly in the Act II showstopper “Get Out and Stay Out,” which she delivers with real bite.

Farrell’s Doralee brings warmth and a powerhouse voice to the Dolly Parton-originated role, though an inconsistent Texas accent occasionally pulls focus. When the three leads share the stage, however, their chemistry clicks into place, creating a believable alliance between women who initially have little in common beyond workplace frustration.

Hershman nails Hart’s smug domineering energy and proves adept at physical comedy, especially in the show’s fantasy sequences, though his solo “Here for You” exposes some vocal strain. Jennifer Burnett nearly steals the show as Roz Keith, whose hilariously repressed devotion to Hart explodes in the standout number “Heart to Hart.” Burnett’s performance strikes the perfect balance of corporate professionalism and barely contained lust.

Matthew Combs is charming as Joe, Violet’s unlikely love interest, while Neil Soriano Isales brings an affable steadiness to Doralee’s supportive husband, Dwayne. Through the evening, the entire ensemble capably navigates the show’s constant transitions between office realism and musical theatre spectacle.

Photo: RDGPhotography

Smart design occasionally undermined by messy execution

Andrew Bates’ set design is simple but highly efficient for Vintage’s larger space. Desks are moved on and off by ensemble members to quickly shift between offices and home interiors while two elevated playing areas allow for simultaneous action. A stage-right wall that opens to reveal Hart’s bedroom — complete with a harness rig that hoists him into the air — delivers one of the production’s most memorable visual gags and earns big laughs.

Sparse projections are used sparingly to add texture without cluttering the visual field, and Emily Maddox’s lighting design helps distinguish fantasy from reality by using saturated color during the show’s more magical moments and a dull, fluorescent feeling in office scenes. Cole Emarine’s costume design does a great deal of storytelling throughout the evening, clearly delineating character status within the drab office environment while allowing the show’s more heightened dream sequences to take on a distinct visual identity.

Dallas Slankard’s choreography is at its strongest in the show’s trio of fantasy sequences, which imagine how each woman might dispatch their boss. Judy’s noir-inspired “Dance of Death” leans into sultry melodrama, Doralee’s Western-themed “Cowgirl’s Revenge” plays like a tongue-in-cheek revenge shootout and Violet’s fairy tale send-up “Potion Notion” lands as a Snow White parody complete with delightfully absurd dwarf costumes. In each case, the heightened movement helps externalize the characters’ frustrations in a way that feels theatrically inventive.

Elsewhere, the production shows signs of strain. The ensemble-driven staging works best in grounded workplace numbers like “9 to 5” and “Around Here,” where the choreography reinforces the rhythms of office life. But in later full-cast moments such as “Shine Like the Sun” and the Finale, the blocking becomes less specific, with repeated patterns of movement that begin to feel visually busy rather than purposeful.

More noticeably, sound design issues intermittently pull the audience out of the action: microphones fail to activate on cue or remain live while actors are offstage, allowing backstage chatter to bleed into scenes. These technical hiccups may seem minor, but they accumulate over the evening, creating a sense of looseness at odds with the show’s otherwise tight pacing.

A workplace comedy that still lands

Despite its heightened tone, 9 to 5 remains rooted in realities that have not entirely disappeared. The show’s satire of egotistical, incompetent male leadership continues to resonate in contemporary workplaces where women are still asked to do more work for less credit.

Vintage Theatre’s production may not be flawless, but it delivers exactly what audiences expect from this material: a familiar story with energetic performances and the vicarious thrill of witnessing a broken system briefly bend towards fairness. If you’re in the mood for something safe and big-hearted, this is a solid, joyful offering.