The touring production of Tootsie, a musical spin on the classic 1982 film comedy, plays at the National Theatre from Dec 7 through 12th, delivering old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing antics.
The plot concerns Michael Dorsey (Drew Becker), an NYC actor desperate to be cast in anything, who eventually auditions for a play disguised as a woman he names Dorothy Michaels. Not only is he cast but becoming “Dorothy” allows him to “access his inner female” in a way that creates both emotional growth and increasingly comic complications.
Robert Horn (book) and David Yazbek (score) have updated the piece (partially) to the present, so there are cell phones and Apple computers, but much of the piece still seems set in the movie’s 1980’s era, which is just fine. As in the film, Horn and Yazbek have a high old time poking fun at theatrical rituals — the mortifying auditions, the grueling rehearsals, the agonizing openings, the backstage heartbreak — in this affectionate sendup of a Broadway musical (replacing the movie’s soap opera setting) and its uniquely unlikely star. Yet the focus remains on the relationships Michael forms as Dorothy, and the way that viewing life through the eyes of a woman helps him grow emotionally, despite the dishonesty of his masquerade.
The non-Equity touring cast charmed the opening-night audience. As Michael/Dorothy, Drew Becker earns both laughs and cheers—as Michael, he is at his best in scenes with roommate Jeff (a winning Jared David Michael Grant), scoring laughs with both his antic physicality and rapid-fire whining. Yet Becker can also deliver sincerity, especially once he starts looking at the world through Dorothy’s eyes: “You know what?” he says to Jeff, “Women listen to each other.”
As alter-ego Dorothy, Becker offers homage to Dustin Hoffman’s film interpretation, for example, lightly tapping his upper chest area, under his pearl necklace, for emphasis when speaking. Yet unlike Hoffman’s movie character, this play’s Dorothy has to sing, and Becker delivers her numbers with brio, yet the numbers are often undercut with parody: for example, when Dorothy bursts into “I Won’t Let You Down,” an anthem that builds and builds, in the background, Donald Holder’s lighting design gets hotter and hotter — so hilariously over-the-top hot, that David Rockwell’s clever scenery threatens to burst into flames.
Ashley Alexandra plays sympathetic Julie, the actress with whom Michael becomes smitten (while masquerading as a woman). Alexandra is warm, likeable and delivers a strong musical number in “Gone, Gone, Gone”, yet her character remains slightly underdeveloped in this play, in comparison with that of her movie counterpart. We feel for her, yet perhaps need a few more scenes for us to see why she and Michael are truly meant for each other.
Jared David Michael Grant as roommate Jeff lands some of the night’s biggest laughs with both witty lines and well-timed facial reactions, while Lukas James Miller earns every giggle as Max Van Horn, a handsome hunk without an acting bone in his muscular body. Cast as Romeo’s brother in the star-crossed stage musical, he never misses a chance to strip. “Taking the shirt off was my idea,” says Max, the winner of that popular (fictitious) TV show Race to Bachelor Island. “It’s what they’re coming for.” his character says.
Payton Reilly as Michael’s friend Sandy Lester was also a comic favorite with the audience, especially as she shares her own nightmares about bad auditions. Even as the melody distorts, the clever lyrics (“All I’ll see are judges / And they’ll all look like Scalia”) and her comic physicality scored with the audience.
Indeed, most of the musical numbers exploit this line of tongue-in-cheek irony and genuine respect for the sincerity of the character’s feelings. The show-within-a-show of this production is a musical version of a sequel to Romeo and Juliet, and the entire company join in singing Juliet’s show-stopping number: “I’m Alive,” with such deathless lyrics as: “Don’t hold your nose / I won’t decompose / I smell like a rose / I’m alive.” This is the mixed blessing of Yazbek’s score: the lyrics are so purposefully snarky-awful-clever, that the music can’t always catch up with them. Even a time-honored sentiment like a declaration of love for Dorothy — “She’s so friggin’ sexy / And so friggin’ smart / She’s made me an actor / She’s built like a tractor” — earns a laugh by turning musical tradition on its head.
The story holds no surprises for anyone who’s seen the movie, but Horn sprinkles the show’s book with clever one-liners. When Jeff meets Dorothy for the first time, he declares her “Faye Dunaway as a gym coach.” And when Michael, in costume as Dorothy, asks Jeff if he looks “heavy,” Jeff diplomatically replies: “You look difficult to abduct.”
It is almost tricky to try to revive the politics of Tootsie in this day and era, i.e., that any man who has walked in a woman’s girdle — shared her triumphs, felt her humiliations, borrowed her wigs — is an honorary member of the tribe. But the creators and performers of this musical have neatly pulled it off in a most Politically Correct way!
Running Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission
Tootsie plays through December 12, 2021 at The National Theatre— 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at 800-514-3849 or purchase them online.
