“The ensemble throws their heart into it, the live orchestra is great, staging is excellent …”
Alethea Mouhtouris
4 Stars
Venue: Teatro at the Italian Forum
Sydney
Dates: Until June 21st 2026
Before Robin Williams donned a dress as Mrs Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman put on a sparkly red gown to play a woman in Tootsie, the award-winning film of the 80s.
This production has kept true to the era.
Set in New York City, strong-minded actor Michael Dorsey is unable to keep a job. Basically, he’s a bit of a jerk. Having turned 40, he has been blacklisted by directors and is so desperate to find his place in showbiz that he decides to show how talented an actor he is by auditioning for a new role as Juliet’s nurse in the guise of Dorothy Michaels, an older woman from the South. He wins the role and becomes wildly successful, only to run into the inevitable complications in trying to keep his identities secret from each of his worlds.
Internationally acclaimed theatre artist and Teatro co-founder Andrew Bevis plays Michael and Dorothy with heart and passion. He switches between identities – accents, clothes, and appearance – with ease. His voice carries easily between genders, although the music style doesn’t always permit him to show its full strength. With an impressive resume – performer, director, musical director – Bevis is a great fit for this role.
His interactions with old friend and flatmate Jeff (Tyran Stig) and ex-girlfriend Sandy (Alana Tranter) raise big laughs. As the laid-back Jeff, Stig is the perfect comedic foil to the more serious Michael/Dorothy. His quips are cutting, his timing superb, and his rendition of the
‘Jeff sums it up’ number is very funny. He brings an energy to the song, and his long limbs lend to the physicality that make this piece stand out. The interaction of the two heightens Michael’s desperate need to achieve, particularly when Jeff brings out a list of “things he’d
promised to achieve by 40” – written 19 years earlier. This is what spurs Michael on to attack auditions in a different way.
Sandy’s first solo, ‘What’s Gonna Happen’, reprised throughout the show, is patter-style and demonstrates Tranter’s impressive vocal flexibility and precision. She portrays the strung-out Sandy with frenetic humour, and excellent timing to get the laughs. Equally funny is
Brendan Irving playing hunky-but-dumb-as-thumbtacks Max Van Horn with credibility and flair. It is Lachlan O’Brien as director Ron Carlisle who impresses in turning our stomach with his vile and slimy attempts to seduce Julia Nichols (the powerhouse Elenoa Rokobaro) and treats others with contempt. And Rokobaro – wow, what a voice. Rich and sultry, it packs a wallop. She delivers ‘There was John’ – about the conflict of performing arts work, the constant sacrifices, the rejections – with both acceptance and sadness. It’s a song with deep meaning for all theatre performers.
Director Cameron Mitchell made a sound decision in keeping the story in the 80s to honour the spirit of the film. It means that a problematic theme of the film and show – the overt, undisguised manipulation and gaslighting of women – is relegated to that time period. Of course, it still occurs today but it’s done surreptitiously. Nowadays I view the concept of Tootsie in a far less kindly light than I did as a child. In a world where women fight every day to overcome inequality and discrimination, the theft of a role by a man (that is, a person with inherent privilege) rankles. This production of Tootsie firmly addresses those issues via Jeff, who tells off Michael for making the gender switch for his own benefit, and Julie, whose heart is broken by the deception.
As with every Teatro show, there is quality in every aspect. The ensemble throws their heart into it, the live orchestra is great, staging is excellent, lighting is used well to represent NYC and the Brooklyn Bridge settings, and costumes – including that red sequinned gown
associated with Tootsie – are a dream. And there are some excellent lines, including this clanger – Jeff makes the point to Michael that, in accepting the role as a woman, “you know you’ll have to take a pay cut”.
Teatro co-founders Nathan M. Wright and Andrew Bevis (yes, Michael/Dorothy!) are incredibly passionate about fostering the local performing arts scene, and this is evident in every single production. They attract enormously talented performers, and Tootsie is no
exception.
photos by Robert Miniter
Alethea Mouhtouris, Theatre Now
