Tootsie

Based on the hit comedy film starring Dustin Hoffman and ranked as one of the best comedies of all-time on American Film Institute's list of "100 Years...100 Laughs," Tootsie has had audiences rolling in the aisles in what was hailed as "Broadway's funniest new musical!" (The New York Post). With music and lyrics by Tony Award-winner David Yazbek (The Band's Visit, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and a laugh-out-loud book by Tony Award-winner Robert Horn (13 the Musical, Shucked), it comes as no surprise that Tootsie won Best Book of a Musical and received a staggering 11 Tony Award Nominations, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.    

Michael Dorsey is 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, Michael (disguised as Dorothy) soon has audiences enamored while falling for his co-star, Julie. It isn't long before Michael realizes that maintaining his greatest acting success is going to be much harder than he expected.

"This sassy riot is the kind of big, brash Broadway musical that gives audiences what they paid for." - Hollywood Reporter

Read the libretto here.

Authors' Note on Producing Tootsie

Tootsie is first and foremost a love letter to Musical Theater. It's an all-out farce that is grounded in desperation and personal growth. The show is filled with non-stop jokes and situations that make for hilarity, but also presents characters that move us, that hold a mirror up to ourselves and the choices we make in life. The comedy and pathos work best when you play the truth. The comedy is on the page both in lyrics and text. It doesn't need to be heightened or exaggerated, just played for its honesty and fun. At the heart of any farce is truth.

Michael Dorsey is a narcissist, but a talented one. Because of his own bad behavior, he's told he can no longer do the one thing he loves more than anything. The story is about his desperation to change that; the wrong and rash decisions he makes; the effect his choices have on others; and his growth as a character throughout that process.

As Dorothy, he is not appropriating the identity of a woman as much as he's playing a female character in a play. He's an actor becoming a character to the best of his ability… albeit for the wrong reason: to land a job. Hence, the comedy is not about a "man in a dress" falling off his heels or those obvious cliches, it's about a man who is lying and the damage he does to the people around him. He's not parodying a woman. When his identity is discovered, it's played for Michael's lack of integrity, having no relation to gender. The music and comedy of Tootsie will give you a roadmap to where the tone of the piece lives. It's fun, it's a love story, it's farcical and fast, but at its core, it's about learning how your actions affect others.