The adaptation will feature an all-drag and trans-led cast, many of whom have performed in previous OASIS-produced shows.
The holidays are an especially gaiety queer time in what’s already the LGBTQIA+ capital of the world. We have drag queens trading their heels for ice skates; drag entertainers inundating gay bars with cheeky, festive shows that poke fun at stocking stuffers; and for the first time in San Francisco’s history, a hundred drag performers razzled and dazzled in public, all-age-appropriate shows across the city — an organized effort conducted amid a time rife with anit-queer verbiage and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.
San Francisco’s drag community is alive and well and thriving and, truly, world-class. And come January, a familiar cast of SF drag royalty will take to OASIS for a rendition of the cult-classic 9 to 5, promising a dramatization unlike any other yet to grace the former-bath house-turned-nightclub.
Per a press release on the show, which is slated to run through January 11sth through 21st at the 298 11th Street venue, stage director Elsa Touche and writer Joe Wadlington, who many know as SF’s foremost Hillbilly drag queen, Jubilee, are soon bringing 9 TO 5: LIVE to OASIS in front of ecstatic masses. The adaptation of the workplace comedy 9 to 5 will feature an all-drag, trans-led cast stacked with award and title-winning, celebrated drag artists from all over the San Francisco Bay Area.
Mind you… 9 to 5 is now 43 years old (though might I interject here and say that Dolly Parton is a timeless gem who deserves both our utmost adoration and protection from conservative trolls jealous that she can pull off a Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleader uniform at 77 years old better than they can in their mid-30s, early-40s). The cultural classic, per the writing prowess of Wadlington and company, has been redrawn with modern commentary, updated humor, and the raucous “vaudeville-style drag theater” that’s ubiquitous to San Francisco.
“I grew up just down the mountain from Dollywood, directly benefiting from Dolly Parton’s philanthropy, and in awe of her beauty and generosity,” says Wadlington in the aforementioned press release. “She’s my queen, and I’m thrilled that we’re in a bit of a Dolly Renaissance right now. Getting to write this script, co-produce this play, AND play my idol is truly a dream come true. Workers’ rights are on everyone’s minds, so it is the perfect time to take another look at this beloved, ahead-of-its-time comedy. We know the Bay Area audience will LOVE what we’ve done with it.”
With Wadlington playing the role of Doralee Rhodes, 9 TO 5: LIVE will also feature Jota Mercury (Franklin J. Hart) — voted the “Best Drag King in the Bay Area” for three years running; Coco Buttah (Violet Newstead), who’s the present reigning “Diva of Design” and has previous credits in Shamilton, Star Trek Live, and Harry Poofter and the Chamber of Secretions; Vanilla Meringue (Judy Bernly), the winner of the late-Heklina’s Star Search pageant, rounds out the quartet of beloved 1980s movie characters.
Combined, Touche notes that this cast is set to deliver a fresh take on the “timeless and timely” narrative that, even decades later, still reflects the bigoted, intransigent rhetoric and actions commonplace in the workforce: “Our cast of beloved Bay Area drag performers delivers a fresh, fun, and funny take on this classic comedy — it’s both timeless and timely: the workplace is arguably worse than ever, and I think a lot of us can still relate to dealing with a sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical bigot in charge!”
What better way to protest the patriarch than to laugh and cackle at jokes written to show how idiotic it is — all while basking in the glow of talented drag performers? We can’t think of one.
// Tickets ($30-50) are on sale now and available at sfoasis.com.
