There are some beginnings that are nearly too auspicious to be true. Take Allison Janney’s path into acting: As a freshman theater student at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, she auditioned for Paul Newman, who was directing a play there, and got the part.
“I definitely took it as a sign that I was where I was supposed to be,” says Janney, who stars this month in the Broadway debut of 9 to 5: The Musical, opening April 30 at the Marriott Marquis Theatre. Based on the 1980 film starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dabney Coleman, the stage adaptation retells the story of three women who set out to teach their sexist boss a thing or two.
Janney plays Violet Newstead, the character Tomlin originally inhabited, and acts out the story’s hijinks alongside Stephanie J. Block (Fonda’s Judy Bernly) and Megan Hilty (Parton’s Doralee Rhodes). “I’ve always loved Lily’s work as an actress,” says Janney. “And I had the great pleasure of working with her on The West Wing. So I felt like it was OK for me to step into that part. If I hadn’t met her, I think I would have been terrified to do it.”
Well known for her multiple Emmy wins as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing, Janney has also had a robust big-screen career, appearing in such films as Hairspray, The Ice Storm, Juno, and two soon-to-be-released movies: the Sam Mendes- directed Away We Go, and A Thousand Words with Eddie Murphy. She’s also no stranger to stage acting, with cred its that include a Tony nomination for 1997’s A View from the Bridge and a starring role in the New York Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park staging of The Taming of the Shrew in 1999.
Her role in 9 to 5: The Musical presented a welcome challenge. Years of dance and figure skating as well as the support of a talented ensemble cast took care of the dancing (“I stand there and step, kick, ball change... and everyone’s doing back flips around me!”), but the singing required lessons and a good dose of encouragement from Parton—a seven-time Grammy win- ner and prolific songwriter who makes her Broadway debut as the show’s composer and lyricist.
“I felt very timid, and she gave me a lot of confidence to say, ‘This is your voice. You don’t have to sound like them, you sound like you,’” Janney explains. “I was like, ‘Oh, Dolly!’”
The show’s initial run at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre ended in October, and Janney, who lived in New York City during the eighties and nineties, has moved back East. But even all these years later, a reminder of her propitious begin- ning is never far away. “I have a big poster of [Newman] that I’ll have in my dressing room in New York,” she says. “He wanted to do me a favor, and I had to think of what it was and he would help me. I never called him on that favor because I couldn’t think of the right one. But I liked just having it in my pocket. It gave me a little extra confidence.” 9 to 5: The Musical opens April 30 at the Marriott Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway. Call 212-307-4100 for tickets.
