The 1980 feminist musical film Nine to Five, which starred Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, has been newly adapted for the stage, and will be hitting the Great White Way in April 2009 as 9 to 5: The Musical.

The Broadway-bound show stars Allison Janney (Hairspray, Juno, The Hours, The West Wing) as office manager, Violet Newstead, and theater veterans, Stephanie J. Block (Wicked, The Boy From Oz) as new hire, Judy Bernly; and Megan Hilty (Wicked, Ugly Betty, Shrek the Third) as the well-endowed "backwoods Barbie" Doralee Rhodes.

Currently running as a tryout to sold-out audiences in Los Angeles, the play captures the film's farcial, grown-up girl power attitude perfectly and no wonder: The two woman responsible for the film's original success: Grammy winner, Dolly Parton and out lesbian writer, Patricia Resnick created the theatrical version.

In an interview with Center Theater Group, Resnick said, "Women are the only majority/minority," and added, "In some ways, things are worse [now]." … continue reading

If the word “bluegrass” conjures up visions of conservative-looking guys with banjos and whiney tenor voices, then you’re partly right. However, there have always been women in bluegrass; it’s just that they sometimes labor in obscurity or even fail to get off their front porch. (And I’d love to expound on the reasons, but I’ll save that for another time.) The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) just gave out most of their 2008 awards to men. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Two names that come up most when talking about women in bluegrass are fiddle player/singer Alison Krause and mandolin player/singer Rhonda Vincent. Both were nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year. They didn’t win. Best Female Vocalist went to Dale Ann Bradley (pictured below). Born in Kentucky, her career has included stints with the New Coon Creek Girls and now with her own band. Her clear voice is distinctive and definitely a few notches better than your average whiney guy tenor.

But those are for a category that has to include women. There were a few women nominees in other categories (like Rhonda Vincent’s band The Rage for Best Entertainer) but mostly, it was guyville. A shining exception was in the banjo category, won by Kristin Scott Benson. She won against four men, and girl howdy, can she play. She’s toured with Laurie Lewis and now has her own band. … continue reading

Someone, somewhere told Jessica Simpson to don some turquoise jewelry, some cowboy boots and a big ’ol belt buckle to make the leap from flailing pop singer to country music star. It was probably the same person who told her to pucker her lips and get her brewski on with a no-name beer called Stampede Light, but that’s not the point. The point is that Jessica Simpson is a country music singer now, and her new album features a duet with Dolly Parton that has some seriously bizarre lady-lovin’ lyrics.

On the title track, Jessica sings to Dolly: "Lying here beside you in the dark/I feel the steady rhythm of your heart/Feel your face against my shoulder/Breath upon my skin/Embers barely smoldered/I make love to you again."

Then she and Dolly join their voices: “Do you know how beautiful you are here in the afterglow ... Do you know how much it means to me/The way you make me feel/Like I could soar the heavens/Gathering shooting stars/Place them in a bouquet/In a rainbow-studded jar." … continue reading

It's been a long time coming, but Dolly Parton finally stepped into the American Idol arena last night as a mentor. Though I was a little uncertain about how well the contestants would handle her collection of music, I was excited for a never-before-done theme. Dolly was fun and bubbly and encouraging and absolutely everything an Idol mentor should be.

One of my favorites, Brooke White (along with a bluegrass band), opened the show with “Jolene” and failed to impress the judges. I admit I wasn't completely blown away either, but I thought it was a solid performance. She's not going anywhere anytime soon.

Ramiele Malubay sang “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind,” and for the first time in several weeks, I feel like she chose the right song and sang it well. Simon Cowell, however, didn't like it and called her performance “forgettable.” (Is anyone surprised? He uses this insult every week.)

… continue reading

I know I've been writing about Dolly Parton too much lately, but I swear I'm not obsessed. Yes, I listen to her music frequently and I own dvds of a couple of her movies. And there was that pilgrimage to the Dollywood gates when I was in Tennessee last year. (It was getting ready to close for the day, but we took pictures of the sign.) But really, I'm just a sane, appreciative fan who's very excited about seeing her in concert in a few weeks.

But when I stumbled upon Entertainment Weekly's Dolly quotes (a.k.a. “17 Quips We ‘Idol'-ize” in honor of her appearance tonight and tomorrow on American Idol), I shrieked a little and knew I had to share this bonanza. The thing that's so great about Dolly is that she takes her talent seriously, but pretty much nothing else. And that is just so appealing.

So, here are a few choice samples:

ON HER ABILITY TO READ MEN
''When I talk to a man, I can always tell what he's thinkin' by where he's lookin'. See, if he's lookin' at my eyes, he's lookin' for intelligence. If he's lookin' at my mouth, well, he's lookin' for wit and wisdom. If he's lookin' anywhere else except my chest... he's lookin' for another man.'' — Onstage at Dollywood, date unknown

ON WHAT SHE'D DO IF SHE WEREN'T A SINGER/SONGWRITER
''If it hadn't been for music, I'd have been a beautician.... Even if I wasn't in show business, I would have wanted all the glamour — and that's about the only way a girl in a small Southern town is going to get it, being a beautician. Or maybe I'd have been a missionary; I thought about that too, but where would I get my hair done?'' — To the Saturday Evening Post, 1989 … continue reading

It's a big political year in the U.S., and after the Democratic Convention this summer, I'll be stumping for either Hillary or Obama. But in the meantime, I'm stumping for somebody else — Dolly Parton. Now, Dolly is not running for President — or any political office, for that matter — but she does have a campaign to get back on country radio, and she needs our support.

Dolly's certainly doing her part. After 10 years with no major label support, she decided to release a mainstream country album, Backwoods Barbie, on her own label, Dolly Records. As she put it, “I'm looking at it like an investment. I thought, 'I've made enough money. I can afford to invest a little in myself.”

She's doing plenty of press, and she'll be a mentor on American Idol next week! She'll be performing a song from her new album — I suspect it will be the first single, “Better Get to Livin',” rather than the second single, “Jesus and Gravity” — and the contestants will perform Dolly Parton classics. This could be scary, but it will give her plenty of exposure and likely drive album sales.

If you haven't seen it, check out the video for “Better Get to Livin',” featuring Amy Sedaris. … continue reading

I have an Academy Awards fantasy. This Sunday, when the presenter opens the envelope for Best Achievement in Directing, I envision audible gasps, then stunned silence and, finally, thunderous applause when un-nominated Kasi Lemmons benefits from a secret write-in campaign and wins for Talk to Me.

And then, for the hell of it, Sarah Polley wins an Honorable Mention for Away From Her.

I suspect, however, that one of the actual nominees will win. (I'm pulling for Jason Reitman — Juno.) But this does not change the sad truth that sometimes the best movies and performers do not get nominated, and sometimes the absolutely wrong performers and movies win.

It can be pretty tough to figure out the logic. For example, my brother noted that the longest — read poorly edited — movies often win Best Editing. (As he elaborated, “All 28 hours of The English Patient beat Fargo in 1997.) And the acting nominees sometimes reflect the most offensive scenery-chewing.

Of course, my brother and I are not the only ones to spew righteous indignation about the state of Academy Awards affairs. I recently read a pretty good list of the Worst Oscars Ever, some of which I agreed with and some of which I disagreed with. And this led me to compile my own list of Academy Awards Travesties — the performers and movies that stole the awards that should have rightfully gone to more deserving others. … continue reading

Don't you hate it when your breasts get in the way of your career? I know I do. Just the other day, I was minding my own business, planning my North American concert tour, when the strain of carrying my breasts around caused me to postpone the tour at the advice of my doctor. Sigh.

Oh, wait; that wasn't me. That was Dolly Parton. And I'm not making this up. Earlier this week, she announced that she would be postponing her upcoming tour due to back problems that stem from carrying her large breasts on her small frame. More specifically, she said, “Hey, you try wagging these puppies around a while and see if you don't have back problems."

She certainly does have a pair, doesn't she?

The tour was planned to support her upcoming album, Backwoods Barbie, her first mainstream country album in 17 years.

It's kind of cheap and easy to make Dolly Parton breast jokes. But part of what I love about her is that she's the first one to make them.

“I was the first woman to burn my bra — it took the fire department four days to put it out.”

And recently, she commented that she envisions fans trekking to see her iconic breasts after her death: … continue reading

You know when you hate your sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot boss and fantasize about poisoning his coffee, and then accidentally poison his coffee, and then keep him in bondage for a while until you can get documents with which to blackmail him, and then while he's indisposed, you make your company women-friendly while you dramatically increase productivity? I know ... it's an old story and we've all been there. But, still, Hollywood managed to make that tired plot fresh back in 1980 with Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin and Jane Fonda in the comedy classic 9 to 5. And now (drum roll, please), 9 to 5 is on the cusp of becoming a stage musical.

Take a moment to guess how much I love the movie. Did you guess “a lot”? If you did, you're right. As a general rule, I'm not a big fan of slapstick — and there are moments when the movie gets too slapsticky for me — but I love that movie. Love it. I don't love every Dolly Parton movie (although, embarrassingly, I do have a certain fondness for Rhinestone), but I love most of them, and I still think Doralee Rhodes is her best role. … continue reading

In their next issue, Vanity Fair will publish their list of the top 40 movie soundtracks of all time. But we don't need to wait to find out their top 10: Purple Rain, A Hard Day's Night, The Harder They Come, Pulp Fiction, The Graduate, Superfly, Trainspotting, Saturday Night Fever, American Graffiti and The Big Chill.

I don't know about you, but this is not exactly my top 10. I own and agree with a few -- A Hard Day's Night, The Graduate, American Graffiti and The Big Chill. And Purple Rain is tricky. I can understand why others would rank it as such, but I wouldn't. Ranking soundtracks is complicated though, because there can be so many factors to consider. Do the songs tell the story of the movie? Do they evoke scenes from the movie? Are they just a collection of great songs? Ten people could probably come up with ten different criteria for what makes a great soundtrack.

Therefore, instead of analyzing Vanity Fair's selections, I'm going to have more fun making my own list. Here are the parameters: It must be a movie soundtrack. I must own it. I must have listened to it in the past year. And I'll give each pick a category for context. And I won't pick all movie musicals (even though I could.)

1. The Sound of Music (Best movie musical soundtrack)

This one is a no-brainer. The Sound of Music is, without question, my pick for best movie musical ever, so it stands to reason that the soundtrack would be the best movie soundtrack. … continue reading

In anticipation of her new album Carnival Ride, American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is doing some press, and what she wants us to know is that she's not a dumb blonde. (Actually she wants the readers of Seventeen to know that she's not a dumb blonde. But I doubt she wants us to believe she's one, either.)

Here's the full quote:

“It bugs me that because I'm a blonde from Oklahoma who sings country music, people think I'm stupid. People don't give us Oklahomans credit. We don't ride around in covered wagons! We have indoor plumbing. We're smart, good people. I won't say I'm business savvy, exactly, but I have common sense.”

I think that riding in a covered wagon is more a symbol of being from the 18th century than it is of being stupid. And, actually, it kind of bespeaks a bold, adventuresome nature — being a Western settler was not for the faint of heart! … continue reading

I love Dolly Parton about as much as it's possible to love someone I don't know even a little bit. Therefore, I've been enjoying the fact that she's been in the news lately. Last month, globalgrrl updated us on Dolly's new album, label, tour and Broadway developments. This Wednesday, Dolly (she'd be OK with the informality, don't you think?) is going to debut her new single on Dancing With the Stars. And she was just in the news announcing that the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame will soon have a home on Nashville's Music Row.

Click here to watch news coverage and clips of the press conference.

While I'm happy about last week's Hall of Fame news, what I'm fixated on is a statement she made in the context of saying she would never retire: "I hope to fall dead on stage right in the middle of a song — and hopefully one I wrote." … continue reading

Remember when wasting time at work used to take some effort? You couldn't really read, and personal calls always required discretion. But now when, say, one has just gotten back from vacation and really doesn't want to work, it's possible to stay busy with internet "research" and, perhaps, while away the day reading random top 10 lists.

Anyone doing that yesterday might have stumbled across CNN Screening Room's list of the Top 10 Songs from the Movies. The list is kind of fun because they identified 10 movie genres and selected a song for each – except for the Disney category, which had two songs. Of the 11 songs selected, three-and-a-half were sung by women, which is not too bad a ratio as these types of lists go. As it turns out, I only vehemently disagree with one of the winners. But that won't stop me from imagining what a list where there were actually more women than men represented would look like.

1. Musical

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" – Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland

There's no real arguing with this one. Although I would argue that The Sound of Music is the best movie musical, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is possibly the best movie musical number ever.

2. Romance

"As Time Goes By" – Casablanca, Dooley Wilson

The article calls this choice, "[a]rguably the greatest pairing of song and movie" and I cannot really argue with that. But I'll nominate a runner-up: "The Way We Were" from The Way We Were. It's pure schmaltz, but bombastic ballads like this or the "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" characterized mid-1970s romances and deserve some props. … continue reading

Love her or loathe her (though how a person could do the latter, I don't know), it's tough to deny that Dolly Parton is one of a kind — the sort of celebrity whose unique public persona is as well known in a country kitchen as it is in an industry board room.

Since I fall squarely into the love her camp (pun adoringly intended), I've got a lot to look forward to. Last week, Parton announced that in February of 2008, she plans to release a new studio album, followed by a tour with stops in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Add this to earlier summer news that the long-planned 9 to 5 musical is getting closer to opening curtains, and it's a darn good time to be a Parton fan. Just look at how happy she and her 1980 9 to 5 costars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda were at last year's Sexist, Egotistical, Lying Hypocritical Bigot Edition release party. … continue reading