Tootsie @ Winspear (Broadway Dallas)
Photos by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
Toot, toot, Tootsie, hello! (It was just too good to pass up.)
The national touring company of Tootsie The Comedy Musical—a Tony-winning Broadway hit from just before the pandemic—is correctly titled. Because, though David Yazbek’s fast-patter songs and clever lyrics are musical fun, what I’ll remember about this show is the comedy.
Too often, the comic bits in a musical feel a shade forced or awkward. None of that in Tootsie: The comic timing and delivery is terrific, and the big laughs (there were plenty) are completely genuine. The audience (at the Winspear Opera House for this Broadway Dallas presentation) thought the show was a hoot and a half.
So before we go on to other things, let’s give some Comic Chops Awards to: Director Dave Solomon for letting the comedy rip, and keeping onstage energy pumping. And to Drew Becker and Jared David Michael Grant, who play friends & roommates Michael (he’s the one who dresses up to get a woman’s part in a show) and Jeff (a playwright and part-time bartender). These two can sit side-by-side on a sofa and crack us up with the smallest movements and eye shifts. Or they can be wildly physical comics: Grant does a great shimmy, and dances gleefully as he tells Michael he’s about to “eff-up” his life again—and Jeff wants to come along to see it happen. Becker’s Michael transforms into a statuesque woman who, says an actor who’s smitten with her, is “built like a tractor.” But with dainty hand movements and side eyes, he/she can get us laughing too.
More comic chops: Michael’s over-the-top girl friend Sandy (not girlfriend, girl friend), is played by long-legged Payton Reilly. She’s wound so tight waiting for “What’s Gonna Happen?” in her disastrous acting career that I’d be inclined to keep sedatives (or a baseball bat) handy. She’s fast and funny in that song (a particularly good one from Yazbek), and when she flops, exhausted, into a chair, we cheer for her.
And then there’s Max (played by Matthew Rella), a six-packed hunk who surprises himself by falling for “older woman” Dorothy. Max sweeps his shirt off at every opportunity, is as dumb and handsome as they come—and can sing, to boot.
Also funny in the lineup are Adam Du Plessis as egomaniacal, girl-hunting director Ron; Kathy Halenda as Rita, a show producer with a “you go, girl” admiration for Dorothy’s take-charge spirit; and Dianne Manaster as Fran, Michael’s intense agent, who doesn’t much care for the guy.
This isn’t (except in the main premise, that “he” becomes a “she” to get acting work) exactly the same story as in the 1982 Dustin Hoffman movie. Michael Dorsey, a “difficult” actor to work with (“Nobody likes you,” explains his agent), becomes Dorothy Michaels, so he/she can try out for a job as “Juliet’s Nurse” in a Broadway musical of Romeo and Juliet. (What? No soap opera cast? But it’s still an acting community.) As the strong-minded Nurse, Dorothy/Michael slowly starts to take over the group as the Alpha (fe)male. (“I Like What She’s Doing,” they all agree.)
Robert Horn’s script for the show is refreshingly updated (and funny, it’s worth saying again). First and foremost, friend Jeff points out that Michael, at a time when women were struggling for respect and equal treatment in the workplace, is taking a job that should have gone to a Real Woman. The feminist vibe carries over into Michael’s growing relationship with the show’s “Juliet,” played charmingly (at the show I saw) by Leyla Ali, subbing for Ashley Alexandra. Ali has a pretty, true voice—but shows a bluesier side in the number “Gone, Gone, Gone.” Her confusion over her feelings for friend and confidante Dorothy (“Who Are You?”) are sweetly funny and touching.
Music directors Andrew David Sotomayor and Josh Ceballos are in the pit with a quite nice “live’ orchestra (did I hear a the beat of a synthesizer?) that blends well with the singers. But whoever’s in charge of sound quality ought to sit in one of the Winspear’s middle rows and see if a tweak is in order. Somehow (and I checked with other people) there was a slight tinny, faraway quality to the sound the head mics were picking up from the actors. Didn’t spoil the fun, but it was noticeable.
Tootsie is a great show to look at: Tour scenic designer Christine Peters sets (based on David Rockwell’s originals) roll and fly in with ease: loved the NYC backgrounds of skyscrapers, with washes of green and blue for the trees and waters of Central Park. And Michael/Jeff’s apartment comes on as two rolling “wardrobe” style pieces that open in seconds, revealing a pretty authentic shabby-not-chic New York apartment. William Ivey Long’s costumes are haute show couture—the ensemble’s “New Look” tight waists and wide skirts (for the show within the show) are gorgeous, with the men in pastel blazers and bow ties. And Don Holder’s lighting is terrific; loved the pinpoint accuracy of spotlights going on and off to showcase individual dancers.
And the ensemble? Yes, and yes again. Lots of talent, lots of smiles and “working the room” with the audience—and some high-spirited dancing, especially in a swirly “Kiss Me Kate”-ish number for the R&J show. David Chase shares credit for dance arrangements with the original choreographer Denis Jones.
Did I say this was a fun riff—and a welcome update—of the original film? Just to note: it’s a show about theater people and New Yorkers, and there’s a lot of language, if you’re thinking of bringing the littles. (The plot is too grown-up for them anyway.) Kudos to Broadway Dallas for grabbing a good pick from the touring lineup.
WHEN: April 18-30
WHERE: Winspear Opera House, Dallas Arts District
