All the stage's a world: B&B opens 'Tootsie,' a musical comedy of ambition, identity

Nearly everybody has gone through crises in earning a living that shout the unwelcome message: "You are all wrong for this line of work." To an actor seeking security in a highly competitive field, being "true to yourself" can lead you down false paths. Under consideration must be the possibility that maybe you're just a jerk.

Told-you-so moment: Jeff (Tyler Belo) drops F-bombs on Michael as Act Two opens

Michael Dorsey (Jonathan Cobrda), the lead character of "Tootsie," the new show at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre, is such a practiced, self-wounding  loser. He's the despair of his agent, Stan (Jeff Stockberger), who fires him after another audition failure.

When he discovers a ruse that might save his career, Michael must be prepared for upending his personal life as well. That desperate swerve turns the actor into Dorothy Michaels, and Dorsey lands a female role his neurotic girlfriend Sandy (Payton Reilly) wants badly.

Dorothy turns out to be so right and so charming for the lead role in "Juliet's Nurse," an unbasted turkey of a "Romeo and Juliet" knockoff staggering toward opening night, that Michael veers far out of his lane, both professionally and personally. 

The musical adaptation of the 1982 Dustin Hoffman movie just opened this weekend. In the vivacious book by Robert Horn, with David Yazbek's explicit, often barbed songs, the implausibility of the Michael/Dorothy transformation makes for a deft satirical approach to the perpetual struggle of art and business on Broadway. That's represented by producer Rita Marshall (Cynthia Collins) on the money side and director Ron Carlisle (Don Farrell) on the artistic end.

Director Ron takes in Dorothy''s script revisions.

As the cross-dressing Dorothy at audition,  Michael applies his skepticism to "Juliet's Nurse" and helps refashion the show toward the emergent feminism of the 1950s. A ready ally is Julie Nichols (Renee Jackson), unconvinced by what the show has done to the Bard's Juliet. A rather dense supporting actor, Max Van Horn (Matthew Rella), is more than clueless as he wrestles  with the script as Romeo's brother.

Dorothy turns the vehicle's show-stopper, "I Won't Let You Down," into a close-to-the-bone job application, where on Saturday night Cobrda first put his stamp on the double role. The gusto with which he infused the unlikable Michael carried over well into the skillfully manipulative, eventually flailing Dorothy. 

From that song on, the captious actor underneath the woman's clothes and wig finds a purpose in life that communicates to everybody through the Dorothy persona. The ensemble song "I Like What She's Doing," one of several staged with pizazz by director Elizabeth  Stark Payne and choreographer Doug King, paves the road to success with more than good intentions.

Lovers' quarrel ends with Julie demanding Dorothy's departure.

In "There Was John," Julie sings feelingly of what she's missed in life so far. It's one of Jackson's intense solo turns, along with the questioning "Where Are You?" That duet with Cobrda is effectively reprised as it underlines the show's serious subtext of the search for identity, through which many people blend their personal and professional lives. 

The second act takes its time about resolving all the complications, but that's no fault of this production. It seems built into the socio-sexual factors the "Tootsie" creators have loaded upon the comic situation, with its multiple embarrassing revelations. Which way will the genuine feelings stirred up in the main characters move toward resolution? Is there more than Jeff's naughty-word summation of what Michael has done to carry everyone forward? 

If such questions remain, they have been exposed entertainingly through dialogue that crackles and songs, especially the "patter songs" brought off expertly by Reilly, that outline the woes and rewards of show biz at the tipping point between flop and hit status. 

[Photos by Indy Ghost Light]