PATRICIA Resnick's 9 To 5 gave country queen Dolly Parton her film debut as the boss's secretary Doralee Rhodes in 1980 and she still takes a screen role in her musical spin-off.

In a video recording from her Dollywood HQ, she introduces the protagonists in Resnick's feisty tale of three office workers turning the tables on sexist boss Franklin J Hart, later joining the cast in a rendition of this lively and fun show's signature song.

The setting is 1979 in a southern American office where the egotistical, hypocritical, bigoted, heartless Hart (a slimy-as-a-toad Darren Roberts) shamelessly blocks any chance of promotion for his female staff.

This sets him on a collision course with the highly capable but constantly overlooked, divorce-bound Violet (Julie Anne Smith); widowed office newcomer dark horse Judy (Jo Theaker), and Hart's more-than-meets-the-eye secretary, the misunderstood, happily married Doralee (Alicia Roberts).

Only the office martinet Roz (Maya Tether) likes him, as she makes abundantly clear in a show-stealing stripping routine for Heart To Hart that stops everyone, Hart included, in their tracks. She returns, Frenched up to max in beret and Breton striped top, to bring more comic panache to the frothy show.

Director Nik Briggs has three of York's supreme musical actresses in the lead roles, Smith being full of fire and vim as Violet and Theaker blossoming as Judy's confidence grows in a perfect example of how to pitch a performance, peaking with Get Out And Stay Out, Parton's most potent of her anti-sexist songs.

Roberts has to channel Dolly, the blonde hair, the curves, the dresses, the walk, the talk, and she certainly does that, southern state accent and all, while  bringing something of herself to Doralee in bringing out her frank humour and heart-on-the-sleeve honesty. She sings in the Dolly style too, especially so in the defiant Backwoods Barbie.

George Stagnell, in the dual parts of office worker Joe and an old-school detective, is a delight, his second-half duet with Smith's Violet being a high point as he woos his initially reluctant senior. Look out too for cameos from Jonny Holbek as Dick and Conor Mellor as Dwayne, each adding to the show's pleasures.

Briggs is working for a second time with choreographer A J Powell, the "luvverly" Brummie from the York Theatre Royal pantomime. His routines have moved on apace from Sister Act, as the ensemble responds to his exhilarating moves with sauciness and camp excess in full flow to the accompaniment of Stephen Hackshaw's cracking band.

9 To 5: The Musical, York Stage Musicals, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york