The bar has been set high for this new season of musicals by the cruel yet tender and truthful “Dogfight,” at Second Stage. Dogfight is brilliantly soulful, thanks to the newest composers on the block, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, director Joe Mantello and their unlikely lovers Corporal Eddie Birdlace (Derek Klena, Tommy in last year’s “Carrie”) and the awkward waitress Rose (Lindsay Mendez, of “Godspell”).
This is not a show that seems, at first glance, to make a great musical. It is crass, horrifying, and distasteful, but it weaves its way into your heart and leaves you shell shocked with bittersweet memories of a time thankfully gone by.
It’s November 21, 1963 and three young marines “jarheads” are about to be shipped out to Vietnam. They have one final night to get laid, tattooed, and to scourer San Francisco to find the doggiest “ugly” woman imaginable to bring to a party. The guy who brings in the biggest bow-wow wins a large kitty of cash. This rite of passage started with their dads and grandfathers and now belongs to them. The three B’s are Bernstein (Nick Blaemire), Boland (Josh Segarra) and Corporal Eddie Birdlace (Klena)
The trouble happens when Eddie meets the awkward waitress Rose (Mendez), who he asks out for a date. Once the idealistic Rose starts to speak, Eddie realizes he has made a mistake but the game has been set into play. Rose has never been on a date, so she’s thrilled and doesn’t see what is happening until Boland’s (Josh Segarra) date, a hooker (Annaleigh Ashford), tells her in angry song “Dogfight” the most stirring moment of the show. Rose breaks down in the touching anthem “Pretty Funny.” Eddie, not wanting to hurt Rose, returns to apologize and she accepts with “Before It’s Over.” They spend the night together but Eddie has not grown-up and when confronted he tears up her information, as the trio is sent to war. When Eddie, wounded, is sent back, it is Rose to whom Eddie returns for the replacement of cruelty with pure innocence. This is a human tragedy full of primal anger about a time not forgotten.
Joe Mantello allows the story to unfold cinematically giving his actors a realism. This translates believability for the audience and we are transported. Christopher Gattelli shows more of his Robbins style choreography and why he deserved the Tony! David Zinn’s set is slick, adult and allows for the emotions to speak out rather than the set. Peter Ducan’s script based on Bob Comforts’ film, is full of zingers that splay the truth in an in-your-face kind of way. Boland states to Birdlace, when he confronts the fact that he cheated at the “Dogfight” and Boland learns he has spent the night with Rose; “That’s the thing about bullshit: you hit me with a little, I buy it. I hit you with a little, you eat it up. That don’t make us assholes. That makes us buddies.” The only thing this play leaves you wanting is a stronger ending.
Derek Klena (River Phoenix in the movie) and Lindsay Mendez (Lily Taylor in the film) are perfectly matched in this rough trajectory. Mendez has the perfect blend of desperation, enthusiasm, disappointment, vulnerability and strength that leads to her empowerment. The supporting cast of Annaleigh Ashford (Marcy), Becca Ayers (Mama), Nick Blaemire (Bernstein), Steven Booth (Gibbs), Dierdre Friel (Chippy), Adam Halpin (Stevens), F. Michael Haynie (Fector), James Moye (Lounge Singer) and Josh Segarra (Boland) are all terrific and you could not wish for a better supporting team.
Benj and Paul will soon be making Broadway stand up and listen to their sound with the wonderfully tuneful present this holiday season, “A Christmas Story, the Musical.”
If this is what the season holds…let the games begin.
“Dogfight” Second Stage Theater, 305 West 43rd Street, through Aug. 19th. I expect this to extend so check back for more news on this winning show.
Posted by Suzanna Bowling
on July 29, 2012. Filed under ENTERTAIMENT,Theatre.
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