Tootsie was the surprising show of our season. The past two seasons that we have participated in, there has been one show that is a toss up for us on how much we would enjoy it. Oklahoma! was that show last season. While Oklahoma! was dud for both of us, Tootsie was definitely a hit! I did see this show in NYC right after Santino Fontana won the Tony Award for his performance as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels and really enjoyed it, but it wasn’t one to stand out to me. Seeing the show on tour allowed the show to feel fresh and new to me.
This show is another musical that is based off a movie had us laughing from start to finish! I have never seen the movie version of Tootsie, but my understanding is that the big difference between the two is that in the movie version Michael is trying to become a movie star, but in the stage adaptation Michael is trying to become a Broadway star in the musical.
The plot is as follows: Michael Dorsey is having trouble keeping an acting job due to his behavior in rehearsals and on set. After helping his ex-girlfriend Sandy prepare for an audition, he comes up with the idea that he will go dressed up as a female named Dorothy Michaels and see if he can book a job. Not only does he book the job, but he helps transform the entire production and Dorothy Michaels becomes a breakout star who takes Broadway by storm.
We did have Brian Cedric Jones on as the understudy for Michael’s best friend, Jeff and he did a fantastic job. I don’t know what it is, but Jeff’s big song/number “Jeff Sums It Up” is always my favorite and Jones killed it. Ashley Alexandra as the lead female role of Julie was also a favorite performance for me. Also major shout out to Payton Reilly and anyone else playing the role of Sandy for the amount of words they have to sing out in their song “What’s Gonna Happen” and its two reprises.
The “show within a show” that Michael acts in and helps transform in Tootsie is a take on Romeo and Juliet if Juliet had survived. The irony of this is that the new production & Juliet is now taking Broadway by storm after an incredible successful run in London, has basically has the same same storyline. The music is by David Yazbek, who wrote the music to another of my favorite musicals, The Band’s Visit. The songs feel like classic musical theater songs and I loved every second of it.
Tootsie is a show that you can’t go into expecting to be life changing in any way. You have to go into it knowing it’s full of humor and exaggerated moments. My only complaint is that the ending fell flat for me. I wanted just a little bit more to really get some closure in all parts of the story. Finally, the one part that Mary Ellen and I both talked about extensively after leaving the show was how much we loved the 1950’s style costumes they created for the Broadway show within the show. They were gorgeous and looked like so much fun to dance in.
My favorite songs from the show were “Jeff Sums It Up” and “What’s Gonna Happen”. The cast for our show were Drew Becker (Michael Dorsey), Ashley Alexandra (Julie Nichols), Payton Reilly (Sandy Lester), Matthew Rella (Max Von Horn), Brian Cedric Jones (understudy Jeff Slater), Kathy Halenda (Rita Marshall), Dianne Manaster (Fran Fields), and Adam Du Plessis (Ron Carlisle).
This show is currently touring around the country until June 25, 2023 with final stops in Thousand Oaks, California, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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