by: Sandi Durell
This new musical based on the 1991 film that starred River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, has a myriad of storylines – love, bullying, romance, toughness, war, innocence, insensitivity, womanizing to name a few.
With book by Peter Duchan and music and lyrics by the up and coming new dream team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (A Christmas Story, opening soon on Broadway), the songs cover pop, folk, rock and a familiar feeling of Sondheim-esque patterns – all positive and good, including the orchestrations by Michael Starobin. There isn’t much you can say to fault the music in this emotionally truthful plot. Add the talents of some highly qualified thespians with great vocal abilities and it’s a recipe for success.
In this case, harsh Eddie Birdlace (a perfect Derek Klena), his buddies arrogant Boland (well cast Josh Segarra) and wet behind the ears, jumpy Bernstein (Nick Blaemire) are the Three Bees, all foul-mouthed, eager to find their prize – the ugliest girl. Eddie winds up in a diner meeting the waitress, a rather unexciting and not too pretty plain Rose (an awesome, vocally appealing Lindsay Mendez), a Woody Guthrie devotee, playing her guitar and singing songs she has written. They have a short conversation that clearly establishes Eddie as a con artist. But she falls for his rap when he asks her to join him at a party. The excitement connected to picking out a dress to wear (this is her first ever date) is charming, “Oh, My Gosh.”
There’s lots of testosterone flying around on the stage as the Marines do choreographic battle with several song and dance numbers including “Hometown Hero’s, Tickertape Parade” for which you can thank Tony Award winning choreographer Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).
At the seedy looking dance club, Boland has secretly worked out a deal with a hooker, the raunchy, slutty-looking, potty-mouthed Marcy (a superbly cast Annaleigh Ashford) to make sure he wins the money which he’ll split with her.
More importantly, these Marines have no sense of the reality of war or what it means to be in harm’s way. They’re just skirt-chasers who will be shipping out to “this little country near India they call Vietnam” – lambs to the slaughter.
As Eddie begins to perceive that Rose is really nice, he begins to feel guilty and tries to undo his invite. Rose insists on going to the club and her anger and disappointment is strikingly believable, but she’s so taken with him and her opportunity to achieve womanhood, that she’s willing to overlook his failure. The chemistry between Klena and Mendez is impeccably good and it’s difficult to take your eyes off them.
There are some really fine songs sung by the Lounge Singer (James Moye) “That Face”, “It’s Just a Party” among many others in the show, i.e. contemporary “First Date/Late Night,” “Before It’s Over,” “Nothing Short of Wonderful.” It’s obvious that these two young songwriters Pasek and Paul were greatly influenced by Sondheim and Jason Robert Brown; a positive.
The war sequence, rifles blaring, bombs blasting, Marines moving in mechanized choreographic tandem (aided by Paul Gallo’s lighting effects) is harsh and sobering – do or die!
The flashback ends, Eddie has arrived in San Francisco and is emotionally lost until he, once again, connects with the now hippie Rose, the song she played for him years back, “Give Way,” resounding once again as they come together in recognition.
“Dogfight” will pull at your heartstrings and you’ll be especially riveted to the budding romance and glorious voices of Klena and Mendez.
Directed by Joe Mantello with set and costume design by David Zinn this production is definitely slated for a future life.
*Photos Joan Marcus
“Dogfight” – 2d Stage Theatre, 305 W 43 St. NYC until August 19th – 2 hrs. 10 min.
212 246-44222, www.2st.com
