Broadway’s Tootsie Pops!

Darren Cox/SpotCo

My household is a theatre household. I’ve been a Show Queen since I’m five years old, and I am married to an actor – so we try to see everything that we can see in the theatres, concert halls and nightclubs of New York City. Thank goodness for the discount tickets available around the city because theater tickets are awfully expensive, and no mistake. If it weren’t for TDF, rush tickets, lotteries, TodayTix and StubHub we would miss a lot of theatre, and theatre is one of our priorities. We don’t take expensive vacations or shop for expensive household items. We live simply, and one of the reasons is so that we can spend our time and money sitting out there in the dark. And it was because of TDF (The Theater Development Fund) that we were able to see Tootsie from what I would deem nice seats.

But the truth is we would have paid more.

Pat and I have loved Santino Fontana from his first show on the New York stage, the 2008 Sunday in the Park with George. We have managed to see almost everything he has done in New York (not everything, but we have a good track record) and the truth is he is simply one of our favorites. From the moment we knew he would be playing Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels, we knew we would catch the show early in its run so that, should it become the Hot Item on Broadway, we would have seen it before tickets became in demand and too expensive. When I caught it on the TDF website I grabbed up two seats, and for the rest of the week we were excited with anticipation.

There is a saying my husband uses on occasions like this one and I said it to him after the play. ‘I would pay to feel this good once a week.’ And I will. I know that I will see Tootsie again. And that is not something that happens often. I’ve become rather greedy with my theatre going experiences. Early on in my New York theatre-going career I learned that sometimes you go back to a show and you see a performance that is less stellar than the one you saw originally, and it diminishes your memory of the play. There have been times that multiple visits have been necessary and have worked out, and others when it was a mistake. When something is special to you, though, you have to take advantage of it as often as you can.

Tootsie is that experience for me.

I happen to like the big important plays, the shows with a message, the musicals with depth, the productions with social consciousness, the stories with intellect. Come From Away springs to mind, Show Boat bubbles to the surface, Next to Normal tops the list. I also happen to like good old fashioned musical comedy. Tootsie is good old fashioned musical comedy in a fresh, modern package. They have made appropriate changes to the story of Tootsie to make it more relatable to a theatre audience. The authors have moved Tootsie from the soap opera world to the musical theatre community, one into which Michael/Dorothy is insinuating. John Van Horn has transformed from an aging soap star to a Reality TV star. Julie is no longer an unwed single mother, she is a strong woman battling sexism in the workplace. Robert Horn’s script has brought Tootsie into today so that new audiences can relate to the story, but he has left the framework of the story intact so that fans of the movie will still be satisfied. This is a play that people who never saw the movie can enjoy as well as the devotees.

And what a play it is.

Writing musical comedy is an art. There is a structure that has to be followed. You have to use good but economic dialog that gets the story told in an expedient fashion in order to make room for sung dialog that furthers the plot but that can take up to five or six minutes to do so. When you add 15 or 20 of these mini-operas it eats clock, necessitating a clear, concise, witty, moving book that doesn’t impede the score, which Tootsie has. And the 15 or 20 mini-operas require melody and lyrics that will speak to the audience, either with pathos or pith. Well, there is pathos in Tootsie (see the ballad ‘Who Are You’) and there is pith in Tootsie (see the epic ‘What’s Gonna Happen’, or the ferocious ‘Jeff Sums It Up’). This is musical comedy structure with a message about strong women and learning to respect them, a structure that creates the framework of Mr. Horn’s play, and which is filled out by David Yazbek’s score.

Every modern musical theater composer/lyricist has a magnum opus. Jerry Herman’s greatest score is Hello, Dolly, while Flaherty and Ahrens have Ragtime. Kander and Ebb’s greatest success might be Chicago but I believe their greatest score to be Cabaret. William Finn soared with Falsettos, Maury Yeston hit one out of the park with Nine and Andrew Lloyd Webber changed the world with Evita. Everyone who writes musical theatre scores builds a canon that features that one score that rises to the top. Well, except for Stephen Sondheim, who has three. Tootsie is not David Yazbek’s magnum opus, The Band’s Visit is, and everyone knows it. It is not possible, though, for every score he writes to be as epically great as The Band’s Visit. That kind of continued output would deplete and exhaust the artist. So it is wrong for anyone to expect Tootsie to be the equal of Yazbeck’s Tony winning score from last season. The score for Tootsie, like the book for Tootsie, like the character of Tootsie has its own voice. It was essential to create a fresh voice, in order to stand on its own while paying homage to the original source material. Yazbek has done that. He and Horn have created an enjoyable musical comedy that points a satirical finger at the world of show business, that comments on the process of creating for profit theatre, that pokes fun at Reality Television and that boldly declares that women are not the weaker sex, that men need to reassess their thought processes about the female of the species. This is art commenting on life in a most entertaining manner.

Darren Cox/SpotCo

Inside of the play Tootsie, an audience will find clever choreography by Denis Jones that includes a hilarious homage to Broadway, Mike Nichols, Robin Williams and The Birdcage. David Rockwell has created good old fashioned sets that roll on and off the stage like they did when, as a teenager, I saw They’re Playing Our Song and Woman of the Year. We recently saw (and enjoyed) Anastasia, where I thought the projections were effective and fun; but I admit that I missed the sets and drops – all of which are available in Tootsie. And who else but costumer William Ivey Long could transform Michael into Dorothy in the mere moments it takes to make a quick change? I’ll tell you who else: Paul Huntley, who does the beautiful wigs for the show. I am so grateful to the magnificent director Scott Ellis for bringing together a creative family that allowed me to walk home one spring New York night as happy as I’ve ever been leaving a theatre; and, kids, happiness is overrated. I’m not kidding when I tell you that there wasn’t a thing I would change from Tootsie … well, I did miss one iconic line from the movie that simply no longer fits the final moments of the play the way it did the film. Other than that, no: I wouldn’t change a thing.

I certainly would not change this cast, which I would label astonishing. It’s so good to see Julie Halston playing Rita Marshall, and if I had to bet, I would bet it was written for her. If it wasn’t written for her, Robert Horn needs to lie and say that it was because it will only make him look like a genius since this is one of those days when the marriage between an actor and a role is perfection. Reg Rogers can sometimes irritate me with his acting choices. Don’t misunderstand me: he’s a nice man whom I have always liked but there are times when I am less apt to enjoy what he is doing with a character. Today is not that day. This is another blissful marriage and another opportunity for Robert Horn to appear genius by saying ‘Yes I Wrote The Part For Reg.’ This is the day that two New York actors who always come back to us and serve our theatrical community deserve Tony Award nominations for their work. And speaking of the Tonys: Michael McGrath is in this play showing everyone why he has a Tony. With one sight gag in Act Two, he brings the house down, he shows everyone what it is to be a true craftsman of the theater. There are actors in this play called John Behlmann and Andy Grotelueschen whom I never saw before but I am going to memorize their names and look for them because they slay with their individual roles and their big numbers. And I will never not look for a Lilli Cooper show again – what a nice surprise and beautifully realized performance she gives as Julie, successfully stepping out of the shadow of Jessica Lange. Not a surprise is Sarah Stiles as Sandy Lester. She took an iconic performance by the legendary Teri Garr and made it all her own … dare I even say she made it her bitch. This is one for the books and it has to be said: Sarah Stiles has been around, even earning a Tony nomination for Hand to God, but David Yazbek has given her a song in Tootsie that will make her the star she deserves to be. We saw Kander and Ebb do it for Marilyn Cooper in Woman of the Year and Andrew Lippa did it for Kristin Chenoweth in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. David Yazbek has given Miss Stiles the best number in this play and maybe the best number of her life, at least to date.

As always, my deepest admiration and respect goes to the dance corps. In Tootsie you will witness beautiful, breathtaking, extraordinary work by these incomparable people once called (and in my heart always) gypsies.

But.

Santino Fontana. Santino Fontana. Santino Fontana.

Michael Dorsey, I liked. Dorothy Michaels, I loved. I reached a point where I no longer saw Michael. Or Santino. I was in love with Dorothy, which is the absolute point. I am not sure I ever saw Dorothy Michaels in the movie. I always still saw Michael Dorsey. Or Dustin Hoffman. Not here. Dorothy was as real to me in this play as Kong was in King Kong. One was a puppet and one was a man in drag, both facts difficult to ignore from your seat in a Broadway theatre. Nevertheless, both characters are as real to me today as they were when theater magic was making them a character whose next entrance I was eagerly anticipating. So much so that when Santino came out as Michael for the curtain call my heart sank because I wasn’t going to see Dorothy again. I sat in my chair, silently chanting ‘Please let him leave and come back as Dorothy, Please let him leave and come back as Dorothy, PLEASE let him leave and come back as Dorothy.’ I don’t know how Santino Fontana runs that gamut from the low, masculine tones in one song to the high dulcet notes of the next but each time he opens his mouth to sing I am reminded of a recipe I once had for French Silk Chocolate Frosting. That is Santino Fontana’s voice: French Silk Chocolate Frosting. I hope that the vocal demands of this show don’t cause Mr. Fontana to leave the show after a short run. I am placing my faith in his technical abilities as well as his artistic, and believing that these vocal pyrotechnics are based completely on proper vocal training because everyone who comes to New York needs to see this performance, one that goes on my short list alongside Antonio Banderas as Guido Contini, Reba McEntire as Annie Oakley, Donna Murphy as Dolly Levi, Audra McDonald as Sarah Brown Eyes, Jose Llana as The King of Siam and Bernadette Peters as Desiree Armfeldt. I will never forget it and I may never recover.

Tootsie

Before I wrap on my own opus I want to comment on the artwork for the show, possibly my favorite show art of all time. Whoever came up with this marketing campaign needs a raise because it’s all there — in one photo they tell audiences what they are getting when they arrive at Tootsie, where, by the way, the Marquis Theater employs one of friendliest front of house staffs I’ve encountered on Broadway. Each one of them said ‘Welcome to Tootsie!’ with a genuine smile on their face. And when we left the theater there were FOH staff everywhere handing out a memento: Dorothy Michaels’ headshot and resume. I took two. The producers are wisely making Tootsie an event. And that’s just what it was to me: an event.

I’ll be saving up my money to take this trip again. Over. And over. With or without TDF.

Tootsie runs about 2 Hours and 35 Minutes with one intermission.

Tootsie has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical.

Tootsie

 
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