Review: TOOTSIE at Ogunquit Playhouse

Time for a flashback.

It is 1982 when the movie “Tootsie” first hit the silver screen. Dustin Hoffman played an unsuccessful and abrasive actor who only found success when he dressed up as a woman becoming a strong, and assertive female powerhouse. To advance his career, Michael Dorsey becomes Dorothy Michaels.

Gender reversal is not a new concept. The ancient Greeks did all their productions with men performing all roles and Shakespeare had a slew of men as women and women as men to advance the mood of his comedies.  

Contemporary productions like Kinky Boots, Victor/Victoria, and La Cage au Folles have made this theme in a musical almost routine.

While the movie, “Tootsie,” was somewhat amusing, it is best to put any memory of it aside to take in the Broadway musical staging. The show, that debuted in 2019 with 11 Tony Award nominations, winning Best Book for a Musical and Best Featured Actor in a Musical, is far more entertaining. In the movie, Dorothy appears in a television soap opera while the stage version has her appearing in a Broadway production of Juliet’s Curse, a sequel to Romeo and Juliet.

With a book by Robert Horn based on the original story by Larry Gelbart, the creator and producer of the TV series, “M*A*S*H” and co-writer of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Tootsie is an amazingly funny show with pithy one liners, faced paced repartee and amazing sight gags. Director, Larry Raben, milks every drop of schtick making the somewhat contrived script soar with comic delight.

The music and lyrics by David Yazbek, while not tune whistling memorable, make for a nice musical mix of numbers with a 1960s to 1980s throwback.

As might be expected by the ever-creative Ogunquit Playhouse, its production of Tootsie is both charming and alarming and rocks the house with one of the most talented teams at the playhouse this year. In fact, the OP dubbed this a reunion show, bringing back previous performers to its stage.

Dan DeLuca (hot off The Nutty Professor from last year) steers the production in the role of Michael/Dorothy who finds steady work only when he puts on a dress for the likes of chauvinistic and highly inappropriate, theater director Ron Carlisle played by Josh Breckenridge and the show’s more nurturing and supportive producer, Rita Marshall played by Ogunquit Playhouse icon, Sally Struthers. In his new role, he meets fellow actress, Julie Nichols (played by understudy Nicole Fragala). She becomes Dorothy’s sisterly confidante while also becoming Michael’s love interest between his/her multiple costume changes and character switches.

DeLuca makes the gender switching role very believable. He plays the role with an honesty and sensitivity that could be easily over the top with less skilled performers. He’s well-tuned with each character and he plays off the other characters in the show with grace and style. He also has a great voice to match the part.

Struthers is officially Rita Marshall, the show’s producer who sees potential in Dorothy’s feisty spirit. She joins in on a vocal or two and displays her usual comic talent. She’s a gem. (See if you can find her disguised in another role in the production.)

Fragala, as Julie, is delightful as Michael’s love interest and as Dorothy’s confidante. Showing no signs of understudy jitters here, Fragala wins you over with a ballad about a past love, “There Was John,” and as a down and dirty rocker in “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

Breckenridge is a hateful, despicable, and sleazy character in every way but you’ll enjoy every minute of his performance, especially when he demonstrates the choreography of the show to an eager ensemble of dancers. (Try to overlook the cringe worthy moment when, while telling a female cast member where to stand, he utters, "I'm not touching you, I'm moving you.") 

The supporting cast is in full bloom in the roles of  Jen Cody as Sandy Lester (Micheal’s extremely frazzled girlfriend), Reed Campbell as Jeff Slater, an Oscar Madison from The Odd Couple persona, and Anthony Festa as Max Van Horn, who gives new meaning to the term overacting.

Cody is comic genius especially in portraying her self-defeatist depressive life in three renditions of “What’s Gonna Happen.”   

Campbell plays every laugh precisely as the dimwitted roomie always offering suggestions to his roomie. After a first act that runs close to 90 minutes, Jeff starts Act 2 with a number recapping the show to date in “Jeff Sums It Up,” an outrageous summary of what has taken place. He nicely drops a few F bombs in the lyrics for impact.

Festa gets to show his musical range while displaying his six pack abs in his role as a dimwitted pretty boy. He’s over the top and perfect at doing it.

The set is simple and functional with complimentary lighting and costumes. (Dorothy maintains a nice wardrobe but will never be a fashionista.)

Choreographer, Jennifer Rias, takes the cast through a vigorous assortment of dancing styles and music director, Andrew David Sotomayor keeps the tunes rollicking for a show that runs almost three hours.

Tootsie is a hit that’s much more satisfying than the movie that inspired it. That doesn’t happen often in stage adaptations so enjoy it while you can.

Gary Ng photo