What did our critic think of Tootsie in Costa Mesa? Despite a still problematic central premise, the non-equity national tour of the stage adaptation of TOOTSIE---now playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 12, 2022---is, for the most part, a funny but flawed musical sprinkled with lots of funny lines, rapid-fire humor, and amusing shenanigans.
Broadway Sacramento is closing out their 2022 Broadway on Tour season with the first national tour of Tootsie. Based on the 1982 film of the same name, Tootsie features music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and a Tony Award-winning book by Robert Horn. Rolling Stone called it “musical comedy heaven” and they’re not wrong. Easily the funniest show of the season, Tootsie is full of one-liners, sarcastic wit, and self-deprecating humor.
On Saturday, April 30, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey held its largest fundraising event of the year at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit. Art & Soul, VACNJ's first in-person gala since 2019, raised a record-breaking $296,000 to support the Art Center's powerful arts programming.
Tootsie made its Northern California premiere at San Jose's Center for the Performing Arts and will be there now through April 24. With a Tony-winning book by Robert Horn, and with music and lyrics by the clever David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) Tootsie garnered eleven Tony nominations, two wins and much acclaim, as well as pointed critique centered on transmisogyny. There are other problems as well.
Read our critic's review. TOOTSIE the musical brings an old-fashioned musical to life based on the movie of the same name from 1982. The show offers up a talented cast, physical comedy, and some updates to the story, but can’t fully disguise a problematic premise under comedy, costumes, and choreography. TOOTSIE is playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre through Sunday, April 17th,
Tootsie is a new musical based on the 1982 film starring Dustin Hoffman. The story follows Michael Dorsey ('Is he an actor? Yes, of course, he is. Is he successful? Yes, of course, he's not') and the opening number immediately makes his rotten reputation evident and known.
Broadway is back at Des Moines Performing Arts. While this last fall we were treated got a glimpse into having the Willis Broadway Series this last fall with an engagement of 'The Bands Visit,' the series returned on February 8 with a hilarious production of 'Tootsie.' Like the title of the act 1 finale, you could say the opening of 'Tootsie' makes the return of the Willis Broadway Series 'Unstoppable,' with 6 shows and a concert scheduled between now and the end of August.
A New Musical About Making a New Musical #TootsieATL #BroadwayAtlanta #atthefox
The musical Tootsie, now playing at the National Theater in Washington, DC, has exceptionally good intentions and flashes of show-biz brio but it tries to do too many disparate things at once. Of course, the cultural zeitgeist of the brilliant film is pervasive in the “mind’s eye” but that should ideally be of little concern with a musical that veers into making differing choices appropriate for the stage.
In the oft-repeated words of the character Sandy, sung in a hilarious patter-fest at strategic points in the musical of Tootsie, playing this week only at the Hippodrome, 'I know what's going to happen.' What's going to happen is that you will attend the show and have an uproarious good time.
My advice for TOOTSIE THE MUSICAL is to distance yourself from the original film, and accept they are taking a dated concept and transposing it awkwardly onto today. You are going for the exquisite comedy performances that surpass the fact that TOOTSIE has not very much to say about gender that seems substantial.
But when all is said and done, after the big speeches are made and the morals have been imparted, TOOTSIE's 1982 DNA proves inextricable. Its parting lesson is fundamentally that women should be women and men should be men. The show's progressivism is limited to a fairly surface-level, lighthearted second-wave feminism that never rises above a 'very special episode' of any '80s sitcom. (Indeed, Michael's apartment set looks strikingly sitcomish, and all the dialogue there fits the bill.)
Get a first look at the non-equity national tour of Tootsie in all new photos and videos! The cast includes Drew Becker as Michael Dorsey, Ashley Alexandra as Julie Nichols, Payton Reilly as Sandy Lester, Lukas James Miller as Max Von Horn, Jared David Michael Grant as Jeff Slater, Kathy Halenda as Rita Marshall, Steve Brustien as Stan Fields, and Adam du Plessis as Ron Carlisle.
Based on Sydney Pollack's 1982 Academy Award-winning film of the same name, Tootsie follows Michael Dorsey, a skilled actor with a talent for not keeping a job. Desperate and out-of-work, Michael makes a last-ditch effort at making his dreams come true...by disguising himself as actress Dorothy Michaels. In a meteoric rise to Broadway stardom, Dorothy soon has audiences falling at her feet while Michael (disguised as Dorothy) is falling for his co-star, Julie Nichols. It isn't long before Michael realizes that maintaining his greatest acting success is going to be much harder than he expected.
TOOTSIE has taken the town as the first National tour of the Broadway musical opened in Buffalo this week. A full house of Covid vaccinated theatre goers packed into Shea's Buffalo theatre. Based on the 1982 movie, this non-Equity tour has been rehearsing in Buffalo prior to launching it's visits across the country next week.
Complete casting has been announced for the First National Tour of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Tootsie. Meet the cast of the tour.
Center Theatre Group has announced casting for the second annual L.A. Writers' Workshop Festival: New Plays Forged in L.A., a one-day event at the Kirk Douglas Theatre celebrating some of the freshest and most thrilling voices in modern American theatre. The festival will take place on June 29 from 1 to 9 p.m. with readings of three new plays by three L.A. Writers' Workshop participants from throughout the program's 14-year history. The readings include "Campaign" by Laura Jacqmin, directed by Monty Cole; "Sleeping Giant" by Steve Yockey, directed by Michael Matthews; and "Confederates" by Dominique Morisseau, directed by Goldie Patrick.
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce that its final production in the 2018 - 2019 "lost" musicals in staged concert series Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys will now include a special event with Minnie's Boys composer Larry Grossman, "A Conversation with Larry Grossman," Thursday, May 23 at 4:45 p.m. and feature a new song added to this Chicago premiere.
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce that its final production in the 2018 - 2019 'lost' musicals in staged concert series Porchlight Revisits MINNIE'S BOYS will now include a special event with MINNIE'S BOYS composer Larry Grossman, 'A Conversation with Larry Grossman,' Thursday, May 23 at 4:45 p.m. and feature a new song added to this Chicago premiere. Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys, book by Groucho Marx's son Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher, music by Grossman and lyrics by Hal Hackady with direction and choreography by Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by Christie Chiles Twille, is presented for three performances Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 23 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Each Porchlight Revisits production begins with the 'Behind the Show Backstory' multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Artistic Director Michael Weber, discussing that evening's production including the show's creative history, juicy backstage gossip and much more. Single tickets are $37 for the performance and 'A Conversation with Larry Grossman' is free to the public. Both are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.
Porchlight Music Theatre's final production in its 2018 - 2019 'lost' musicals in staged concert series is Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys, with book by Groucho Marx's son Arthur Marx and Robert Fisher, music by Larry Grossman and lyrics by Hal Hackady with direction and choreography by Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by Christie Chiles Twille. Porchlight Revisits Minnie's Boys is presented for three performances Wednesday, May 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 23 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street.
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