Valerie Appearing in the Musical "9 to 5" at West Valley Light Opera!

I am so excited to announce that I will be singing and dancing in the ensemble and as a hospital intern for West Valley Light Opera's production of Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".  The show is running on weekends from June 29 to July 27.  There is a Saturday matinée (instead of evening performance) on July 13th. The matinées are approaching sell out.

The show will be familiar to many of you who saw the original motion picture starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman. Much of the same music (plus so much more) and scenes appear in this show. Come take a flash back to the 1980s. See how far we've come - and in which ways office politics are still the same. We've got a strong cast and it's shaping up into a great show.

We're well into rehearsal now, busily learning all the songs and many dance numbers.

This is very exciting to me, as many of you may recall, I had a serious injury in 2010 (3 cm x 1 cm tear in my quadricep tendon), which had a treatment that led to a back injury.  In January 2011, I could do about 1 flight of stairs a day, walk for short distances (often with aid of a cane), and could not ride my bike nor get dressed without pain.

My old doctor and physical therapist told me that was "as good as it gets at your age"!  I found a new doctor and a new PT, received additional treatments and - well, I'm DANCING!  I'm a bit rusty, but a patient choreographer and fellow cast members are getting me back into the rhythm of things.

Please come and see the show! If you call the box office, you'll get to skip some of the ticket fees, or you can buy online.  Either way, let the box office manager know you're coming to see me - there is some kind of reward for bringing the most people into the theater. I hope it's chocolate! :-)