In Nancy Savoca’s 1991 film “Dogfight”
(starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor), a group of young marines are about to
deploy to Vietnam the day before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But first,
they set out for a night of “boys-will-be-boys” debauchery, and agree to
compete among themselves to bring the ugliest date to a party later in the
evening. The consequences of their cruel behavior are explored through the rest
of the film, which in 2012 debuted as a stage musical adapted from Bob
Comfort’s screenplay. The local premiere of “Dogfight, the Musical” is being
presented at JCC CenterStage through Sunday, July 29.
CenterStage Artistic Director Ralph Meranto
emphasized on opening night that “Dogfight” was a deliberate choice for the CenterStage’sSummerStage
production (SummerStage is an opportunity for high
school and college aged actors to participate in a professional production). Meranto stated that he had looked forward for an
opportunity to stage the production with young actors who are the same age as
the characters they are portraying.
A note
accompanying the program explains that the play could provide an important perspective
related to the #MeToo movement; staging the
production with age-appropriate actors is a thoughtful way to contextualize #MeToo for the era it was set in. While the audience might
want to chastise the characters for their behavior, the actors’ youth reminds
us that they were hardly older than children and they were being sent to die in
a violent war.
The Vietnam
War is a looming menace throughout the story, but the real villain is toxic
masculinity — disguised as brotherhood and camaraderie — that is portrayed with
a loathsome and sickening success by CJ Garbin (in
the lead role of Eddie Birdlace), Jack Bausch
(Bernstein), and Reese Holahan (Boland).
The original
Off-Broadway production starred Lindsay Mendez in the role of Rose (here played
by Sydney Howard), the musically gifted, thoughtful, and socially awkward
waitress who is victimized by the young marines’ prank. Quirky and endearing,
Howard’s portrayal of Rose is imbued with an emotional range much broader than that
of the other characters.
Rose starts
the show as a shy young woman who is asked to attend a dance by Garbin’s Birdlace. When she
declines, Birdlace asks again. And again. And yet
again, varying between cajoling and bullying until she accepts his invitation.
We are already aware that the dance is what the marines are calling a
‘dogfight’: a bet between them to see who can bring the ugliest date. As Rose
gets ready to leave, we learn that the dance is actually her first date. As Birdlace and his buddies realize he’s feeling guilt, and as
Rose leads him through those emotions, the play oscillates between romance and drama,
but it becomes obvious who the real dogs of the story are.
Howard and Garbin share an onstage chemistry that make Rose’s
excitement, forgiveness, and passion believable and endearing to watch, even
though it’s frustrating to witness a young woman acquiesce to the desires of
someone who’s treated her poorly.
The
Off-Broadway musical features music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (now known for their award-winning
work on “La La Land” and “Dear Evan Hansen”). With a
thematic use of “do-do-dit-dos,” the music tries
desperately to recall the 1960s, but falls slightly short. Pasek
and Paul’s score feels more contemporary than the setting of the show, with the
songs reminding me more of “The Last Five Years” than of “Hello Dolly” or
“Fiddler on the Roof” (both released in the year after the musical takes
place).
Garban and Holahan have flawless
voices that are almost too good at times. With each note sung perfectly, there’s
little room left for raw emotion that might have enhanced some of the songs,
particularly “Come Back.” Halohan’s Boland sings less
than the others, but emotes not only with his body but also with his voice,
singing as athletically and aggressively as he dances and moves on stage.
The success
of the script relies upon the viewer’s ability to emotionally and
psychologically place themselves in a time before Kennedy’s assassination.
Approaching the language, ableism, racism, and toxic masculinity of the marines
with a modern mindset may leave the viewer with a sour perception of the
production, no matter how strong the performances are. It’s incumbent upon the
viewer to take into account the ignorance, privilege, and naรฏvetรฉ that openly plagued
America leading into the cultural revolution of the 1960s.
Though our
language may have evolved, the scores of movies in our culture that follow a similar
plot and character arc indicate that we have more work to do. There’s this
enduring “romantic” clichรฉ of a man bullying a woman into a romantic
relationship (where she ends up doing the majority of the emotional labor
necessary for both the man and their relationship to be successful). The young
actors in this production deserve to be on stage portraying emotionally
dynamic, evolving characters, and they are more than capable of living up to
that challenge.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2018.
