Tootsie - The Musical Tickets | Schedule for 2024/2025 Events

Tootsie - The Musical

Tootsie is a musical comedy based on an American movie from 1982 with the same title. The musical has music and lyrics by David Yazbek with a book by Robert Horn.

The show had a try-out premiere in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theater in September 2018 before opening at the Palace in October. The musical debuted on Broadway with a preview in March 2019, followed by an opening in April 2019. It closed in January 2020 with 293 regular shows and 25 previews.

Tootsie musical went on a US national tour in 2021. More productions were announced to be performed over the years in different countries like Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, etc. The Broadway version won the Best Book of a Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actor at Tony Awards, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards in 2019. The musical was nominated in several categories at all three awards.

History and Other Information

The two-act musical has twelve songs in the first act and eleven in the second. Santino Fontana played the lead role of Michael Dorsey in Chicago and on Broadway. The plot revolves around the life of a popular yet temperamental and stubborn actor who gets a new identity as a woman to earn roles again.

Michael Dorsey may be talented, but his volatile nature makes it hard to land roles on Broadway. Being labeled a director’s worst nightmare doesn’t do him any good. He is dejected by a series of failed auditions and the fact that he hasn’t achieved much despite reaching forty years of age. In a desperate attempt to save his acting career, Michael Dorsey becomes Dorothy Michaels. His new avatar as a drag gets him roles and stardom. He also realizes that life is different when you look at the world from a woman’s perspective.

Michael becomes a friend of his co-star Julie and falls in love with her. But she knows him as Dorothy. It’s up to him to decide what he wants to do with his life. Will he reveal the truth, or will he continue to keep up the disguise?

The musical ends on a hopeful and happy note, where Michael is a changed man. The treatment makes it a lighthearted comedy with some emotional scenes and lovely musical tracks. The critical reviews are mixed.