9 To 5 Musical Libretto Page

Resnick’s book ensures that no single woman “saves” the others. Instead, their liberation is structural . The famous “Potion” sequence (Act II’s hallucinatory revenge fantasy) is not a nihilistic bloodbath. Watch how the libretto stages it: when they imagine tying Franklin Hart Jr. to a grill, shooting him, or hanging him from a flagpole, the humor derives not from violence but from absurdity . The libretto is saying: The only way to remove this man from power is through cartoon magic, because the real system won’t allow it.

The climax is not the kidnapping. It is the workplace redesign . After imprisoning Hart in his own home, the women don’t run away. They stay. And they restructure the office: job-sharing, day care, equal pay, flex time. The libretto commits to the most radical act imaginable in American musical theater—it shows policy change as the happy ending.

On the surface, 9 to 5: The Musical (book by Patricia Resnick, music and lyrics by Dolly Parton) seems like a harmless nostalgia trip—a splashy, Technicolor jukebox musical riding the coattails of the beloved 1980 film. But to dismiss its libretto as mere camp is to miss the quiet radicalism ticking beneath its fluorescent office lights.

The final tableau—Violet, Judy, and Doralee walking out of the office, arm in arm, as the lights fade—is not a retreat. It is a picket line in miniature. Dolly Parton’s music may be what sells the tickets, but Patricia Resnick’s book is what saves your soul. It reminds us that the first step to changing the world is admitting that you are not crazy—the office really is a cage.