That sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot Franklin Hart Jr. may not appreciate Violet Newstead's talents, but at least one young woman at Consolidated Industries considers her the ultimate role model. Brandi Wooten, who plays a Consolidated office drone in 9 to 5: The Musical, picks Allison Janney (Violet) as the actress whose career she'd like to emulate. "Allison Janney is the lanky character woman. I watch and learn from her every night," says the 5-foot-9 Wooten, who aspires to be a full-time character actor, having already played such roles as Annie's Lily St. Regis regionally.
With her curly blond hair, bubbly personality and fondness for her small-town roots, Wooten also has some things in common with another boldface name involved in 9 to 5: Dolly Parton. Such a comparison would floor Wooten. "I'm kind of a huge fan," the Missouri native says of Parton, who wrote 9 to 5's music and lyrics and starred in the movie on which it's based. "I grew up watching her on Hee Haw when I was eating dinner. My parents only listened to country music. Hands down, I think she might be the biggest star I'll ever work with. I don't mean I won't work with other stars, but in my hometown I feel like Dolly Parton is as big as the President of the United States. She's just an iconic figure of country music and Middle America."
According to Wooten, Parton was present throughout tech rehearsals and previews for both the Broadway run and the Los Angeles tryout of 9 to 5. "I made it a point to go up and talk to her all the time," says Wooten. "She's just the kindest lady." And on opening night, Parton was introduced to some more fans in the Wooten family. "My parents were beaming when they got to meet her."
A year ago, Wooten was performing on Broadway in another screen-to-stage adaptation, Spamalot. She'd made her Broadway debut in that show in May 2007, as a temporary replacement during a five-month medical leave, and then returned to the New York cast (in a different ensemble track) at the start of 2008. Her first go-round with Spamalot had been as a swing on the national tour for most of 2006.
Shortly before joining the Spamalot tour, Wooten had her first lead role: as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Westchester Broadway Theatre just outside NYC. She saw the movie for the first time after winning the role but says she didn't steal anything from Marilyn Monroe for her performance; her Lorelei, she says, was more comic than sexy, more Carol Channing (who originated it on Broadway) than Marilyn.
Which is typical of the onstage personality Wooten discovered when she got to college. "I'm like this quirky, wacky, nerdy person," she says, recalling that before college "I was convinced in my mind that I was going to move to L.A. and do dancing. When I got into Oklahoma City University, I was like, 'I'm totally a musical theater person! I want to act!'"
Wooten majored in dance at OCU, but the coursework entailed as many voice and drama classes as dance classes. She hadn't had an opportunity to do much singing and acting before college, as her public high school in northeastern Missouri—with just 70 students per grade, drawn from three towns—had no theater department and offered choir only as a course, not an extracurricular activity. "I was the only person in my whole class—in my whole entire high school, 9 through 12—who was interested in the arts," she says.
It was kinda the same way at home, too. Her four older siblings were all multi-sport athletes (mom and dad had been a cheerleader and football player in college), and Wooten herself was on the softball, track and basketball teams until she dropped them all around age 16 to leave more time for dance. She'd started attending a dance studio when she was about 5, training in all types of dance and gymnastics; she quit the latter after a growth spurt at 12. Though Wooten is the only one in her family to pursue performance, she says that her sister Lori has great rhythm and "is convinced that she gave me my rhythm while dancing to Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson in our kitchen."
Wooten was born in Hannibal, Mo., and grew up in nearby New London (pop. 1,000). Her dance studio once took a trip to St. Louis to see The King and I at the Muny, and that was virtually her only exposure to live theater before she spent spring break in New York during senior year of college. She came with her classmate Jon Warren (who's also on Broadway now, in Wicked), and they bought tickets at TKTS for the 42nd Street revival, her first Broadway show. On that trip, she also saw Chicago, with Jennifer Holliday as Mama Morton, and Les Misèrables, then still in its original run. And she went to auditions—and booked a job! So right after graduation in 2002, she went out on a non-Equity tour of Fosse for a year; her Fosse castmates included Jessica Lea Patty, who's also in 9 to 5, and Michael James Scott, currently in Hair.
