Reviewed by Tony Annicone
North Shore Music Theatre’s fourth show of their 69th Season is “Tootsie,” a regional debut of this musical. “Tootsie”, the musical, is based on the 1982 comedy movie of the same name written by Larry Gelbart, Barry Levinson, Elaine May, and Murray Schisgal from the story by Gelbart and Don McGuire. The musical opened on Broadway on March 29, 2019. Like the film, the musical tells the story of Michael Dorsey, a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to adopt a new identity as a woman in order to obtain a job. The original movie revolved around a daytime soap opera, while this show involved a Broadway musical. The musical has music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a book by Robert Horn. Director Richard J. Hinds cast these roles splendidly and elicited strong performances. He also choreographs some phenomenal dance numbers to keep the audience enthralled all night long. His associate director and choreographer, Elyn Collier aids Richard in his task. Musical director Sam Groisser not only conducts a terrific ten-piece orchestra but plays lead keyboards. Sam taught the cast all the melodious songs with soaring harmonies and brought out the best in the cast and orchestra. Together Richard and Sam bring a new original musical to North Shore Music Theatre for audiences to enjoy and savor. The talented cast is rewarded with a thunderous standing ovation at the close of the show.
Leading this cast as Michael/Dorothy (the Dustin Hoffman movie role) is Kyle Anderson who once again makes the role his own. Michael alienates Ron Carlisle, the director of the show within this show, as well as many other directors and producers, and wonders why he can’t get a job. The opening number of this show is a big ensemble jazz number led by Taryn Smithson with a 1920s feel to it, and she sings solo on the number, beginning the exciting journey with all the fabulous dance numbers that follow. The night of his 40th Birthday party, his roommate Jeff tells Michael that he is obnoxious and conceited. Kyle displays his strong voice in “Whaddya Do” where he realizes how little he’s accomplished in the past 20 years. He eventually decides to dress up as a woman, Dorothy Michaels, to audition for a role in a musical, “Juliet’s Curse,” and wins Ron Carlisle and producer Rita Marshall over. Kyle belts out, “I Won’t Let You Down,” using a female voice that knocks your socks off. He makes the transition from man to woman seamlessly. This show uses several theatrical rituals, from mortifying auditions to grueling rehearsals to agonizing openings and backstage heartbreak. Michael, as Dorothy, eventually falls in love with his leading lady, Julie, while singing “Who Are You”, a beautiful ballad with her in counterpoint where she thinks of Dorothy as an older sister. Dorothy keeps telling Julie her back story, which the first time sounds like “Our Town” and like “A Doll’s House” the second time. A hilarious scene occurs when Sandy shows up unexpectedly, and Michael has to do a fast change, which has to be seen to be believed. After a disagreement with Jeff, Michael becomes convinced that his success in theatre lasting forever as Dorothy makes her “Unstoppable” which turns into a dynamic dance number. This is where she imagines all the future shows Dorothy will do, including “Sunset Boulevard,” “42nd Street,” and “Chicago.” During the number, Kyle changes into a sequined red gown as Dorothy. At the end of Act 1, getting caught up in the moment, Dorothy kisses Julie without thinking, which leads to Julie running offstage. Kyle displays the growth and depth of the character in Act 2 as he develops meaningful relationships with other people. He decides to dress up as Dorothy to explain the kiss to Julie but happens to catch Ron putting the moves on her. Dorothy chases him out of the apartment, and Julie then tells Dorothy that she is interested in a lesbian relationship with her. That ends up in disaster, as it does when Max falls in love with Dorothy and when Stan finds out about Michael as Dorothy, too. His realization of what to do occurs in an emotion-packed “Talk to Me Dorothy,” where he realizes his female alter ego needs her to tell him what to do. Michael realizes he has found people to love. Kyle’s closing number, “Thank You,” is where he finally admits that Dorothy taught him to love other people. It finally makes Michael a better person at last. Kyle once again delivers a tour de force performance in this role.
Living up to the high standards of their leading man are his fellow castmates. T. Shyvonne Stewart does a fantastic job as Julie Nichols, the girl both Michael/Dorothy fall in love with. She also portrays Juliet in the show within a show. T’s first number is “I’m Alive,” whereas Juliet sings, “Don’t Hold your nose, I won’t decompose, I smell like a rose, I’m Alive,” which stops the show with hilarity as well as a comic ensemble dance number. Her next number is a poignant ballad, “There Was John,” where she tells Dorothy of her choosing her theatre dreams over her personal relationship with a man she loved before, even though her heart was broken. Before she sings her ballad, the smarmy director tries to put the moves on Julie, but she wants to continue her conversation with Dorothy. After Julie is kissed by Dorothy and wants nothing to do with her, she becomes confused about her feelings for Dorothy. Later on, T. belts out “Gone, Gone, Gone” about her mixed-up feelings in the second act with the trio of girls, Corinne Broadbent, Alyssa Vastardis and Taryn Smithson. This number blows the roof off the theatre with T’s powerhouse rendition. Julie decides to give into a lesbian relationship only to be rebuffed by Michael, who has feelings for her. On opening night, Julie tells Dorothy that she’s usually happy on opening nights, but this isn’t one of them. After the opening night secrets are revealed there’s a sad reaction from Julie. Dorothy reveals that she can’t live with all these lies and Julie must make a decision to forgive Michael or hold what he did against him. Hopefully, together, they might figure things out. T. is dynamic in this role.
Michael’s ex-girlfriend, Sandy, is a neurotic mess of an out-of-work actress who has no self-confidence and needs his constant support. She is humorously played by Brooke Jacob. Sandy has nightmares about auditions and describes them in graphic detail. Her mile-minute patter numbers are “What’s Gonna Happen?” which win many laughs. They are like “Modern Major General” by Gilbert and Sullivan. Sandy becomes upset because Dorothy stole her role in “Juliet’s Curse” and wants to be comforted by Michael, who stands her up. She also says she did dirty dancing with her cat, but the cat wasn’t able to hold her up. Later on, Sandy finds a shoulder to cry on with Michael’s roommate, Jeff, who is also a playwright who hasn’t had much success. A surprising twist takes place in this final scene with Sandy finally standing up for herself. The sardonic and insulting Jeff is excellently played by Joshua Morgan. His one-liners to put Michael in his place are very comical, and his scene-stealing song, “Jeff Sums It Up,” as he tells him he screwed up by getting a crush on a girl in the show while dressed up like a woman. Pay attention to the naughty lyrics of this song that will have you rolling in the aisles. Some of his comic lines include when Michael asks how he looks as a woman that he looks like Faye Dunaway as a gym coach as well as saying that he’s heavy and looks difficult to abduct. These lines and many others left the audience laughing merrily all night long. Brooke and Joshua are hilarious in their roles.
Another scene stealer is Luke Hamilton, who is tall, dark, and handsome and plays Max Van Horn, the winner of Race to Bachelor Island, a reality TV show. Max can’t act his way out of a paper bag, but Luke is a fantastic actor and his portrayal of this himbo is dynamite as Romeo’s dumb brother, Craig. He constantly takes off his shirt, saying that is what the audience is waiting for, and also has some malapropism line readings like Rome O, mistakes grammar for grandma, says Dorothy is smart and sturdy, and compares her to a tractor. Max eventually becomes infatuated with Dorothy and goes to her apartment late at night, declaring his love for her. Luke’s voice soars off the charts on his song called “The Thing,” where he shows off a tattoo on his chest of Dorothy while proclaiming his undying love for her. However, Jeff appears on the scene and calls Dorothy a trollop and throws Max out of the apartment. This song stops the show in its tracks. He appears later in Dorothy’s dressing room on opening night to thank her for her help with his acting once more, but Dorothy tells him that he has to believe in himself. Luke returns in triumph to NSMT, having played Charlie Price in “Kinky Boots” in 2022 as well as having been in “Jersey Boys” as Bob Gaudio in 2019. He won many accolades in both of those roles, too.
Two other comic characters are Ron Carlisle and Rita Marshall, the director and producer of the Juliet show. Matt Allen plays the conniving director, who is chauvinistic and calls Dorothy Tootsie, and she puts him in his place. Later on, he tries to take credit for all of Dorothy’s ideas for the characters and the script changes. One of his funniest moments comes when he is directing the dance moves in “I Like What She’s Doing.” he says, “Accentuated movements, people, Bounce, Bounce, Bounce, Fosse, Fosse, Fosse,” which brings the house down. Michael insults him at the start of the show by calling him a hack, and Ron says he will never cast him in another show. This character keeps sexually harassing Julie during the show and treats all women like dirt. Matt captures the smarminess of the character splendidly. Crystal Sha’nae once again shines as Rita, who has $12 million, which isn’t hers to invest in this show, and sings Dorothy’s praises because she is a woman. She displays her strong voice and dance moves in this show. “I Like What She’s Doing Now” turns into a big dance number that stops the show. Rita likes Dorothy’s ideas, which improve the turkey of a show and move it from the Renaissance into the 1950’s. She finally changes the name from “Juliet’s Curse” to “Juliet’s Nurse” when she becomes enamored with Dorothy, hanging onto every idea and suggestion she makes. Dorothy has made the show a joyous anthem to women. Matt, Sha’nae, and Luke also sing “The Most Important Night of My Life” with excellent support from the dancing and singing ensemble. Rita keeps offering Dorothy more money to stay with the show with more perks and on and on. She is hilarious in this scene and wishes her first husband would look down from heaven on her success, but she says that can’t happen because the bastard’s still alive.
Fred Sullivan Jr. plays Stan Fields, Michael Dorsey’s agent. He once again steals both of his scenes; the first, when he tells Michael that he is a pain in the butt to work with, is temperamental, and no one wants to hire him because they hate him. Michael even messed up a commercial playing a tomato. The second is when Stan obtains a role for him in a play, and Michael turns it down because he’s already doing a show. Stan storms out only to return, catching Michael turning himself into Dorothy. He has a meltdown telling him it will be the end of his career when everyone finds out about his duplicity. Stan eventually tells both Michael and Jeff to F… off, which won much laughter. Kudos to the whole cast for doing a superb job on this hit Broadway musical. Special praise to set designer Shoko Kambara for her magnificent NYC sets of subway station, traffic light, and two elaborate apartment sets, to costume designer Dana Pinkston for the multitude of colorful and elaborate costumes, especially Dorothy’s sequined red gown, the marvelous hair and wig design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt and the brilliant lighting design of Jack Mehler. Owner and producer Bill Hanney spared no expense in bringing this gorgeous, uplifting musical to North Shore Music Theatre for its 69th Season. Run, do not walk to the box office before this show is completely sold out. Their website is nsmt.org Tell them Tony sent you. The choreography and dance numbers in this show have to be seen to be believed and are especially impressive from start to finish. It is the feel-good and must-see musical this summer.
TOOTSIE (13 to 25 August)
North Shore Music Theatre, 54 Dunham Road, Beverly, MA
1(978)232-7200
