Musicals based on hit movies have become a staple on Broadway. The creative teams of most of these shows such as Pretty Woman, School of Rock, and Kinky Boots, take the established screenplay and insert some songs, and call it a day. But Tootsie, derived from the 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as struggling actor Michael Dorsey who disguises himself as a woman to land a role, actually updates and improves the material. Robert Horn’s book is a sharp and funny update on Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal’s original script.
Horn incorporates aspects of the MeToo movement and transgender issues as well as pens new socko quips and jibes, all staged with precision and rhythm by Scott Ellis. Instead of a schlocky soap opera, Michael Dorsey in drag lands a part in a goofy Main Stem musical update of Romeo and Juliet. This afford opportunities for theater jokes and musical comedy cliches. I loved a ridiculous dance number incorporating every choreographic routine seen in every Broadway show for decades, complete with silly names for each gesture. Denis Jones provided the clever dance steps. In addition, the songs are not just shoehorned into a carbon copy of the movie. David Yazbek’s quirky and infectious score creates an individual style indicative of each character.
And what a bunch of characters, enlivened by a cast of on-point stage veterans. Santino Fontana pulls off the acting coup of the season by creating two distinct personalities in the perfectionistic, desperate Michael Dorsey and the assertive, motherly Dorothy Michaels. His female persona is equally credible as his masculine one, as is his falsetto singing voice.
Lilli Cooper is a steelier version of the Jessica Lange role in the film, the leading lady Michael inconveniently falls for. As Michael’s neurotic friend Sandy, a delightfully distracted Sarah Stiles nails a frantic Latin-inspired number listing her many woes. Andy Grotelusenchen is a master of deadpan as Michael’s playwright-roommate. Reg Rogers continues to employ his Snaggletooth-like delivery to maximum comic effect as the musical-within-a-musical’s obnoxious director. John Belhmann is riotously oblivious as the reality-TV stud star of the musical (another clever change from the movie where the role was of that of an aging Casanova.) The invaluable Julie Halston and Michael McGrath makes their supporting roles of rich producer and fast-talking agent glitter.
William Ivey Long’s funny and intricate costumes and David Rockwell’s cartoonish sets make attractive wrappers for this sweet and tasty Tootsie.
