Theatre 2024: Dogfight Musical @ Harbourfront Centre Theatre

Since I love the genre, I have watched innumerable live-theatre musicals over the years, including multiple viewings of old standards and classics that feel repetitive and boring after so many repetitions.  I am always on the lookout for new (at least for me) musicals that I have not seen before. My husband Rich knows this, so he is vigilant in pointing out any that he finds, be they obscure oldies that we never came across, or new productions making their debuts.  We were therefore excited to spot an advertisement for “Dogfight the Musical”, especially after learning that this was an earlier (2012) work by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, who went on to win the Best Musical Tony award for Dear Evan Hansen as well as writing songs for films The Greatest Showman and Lala Land.

Based on a similarly named 1991 movie starring River Phoenix, Dogfight the Musical deals with a group of newly trained Marines on their last day in the U.S. before shipping off to fight in the Vietnam War. Perpetuating a cruel ritual that has supposedly been played out by generations of Marines, the young men take part in the eponymous “Dogfight” where each one places a bet that he can bring the ugliest girl to a dance.  Eddie Birdlace and his best friends Borland and Bernstein, who call themselves “The Three Bees”, take part in this contest and scour the streets of San Francisco for possible candidates.  Eddie comes across shy waitress and budding folk singer Rose at her diner and convinces her to go to the dance with him.  At first reluctant, Rose eventually agrees and is excited about attending her first real date.  As he gets to know Rose, Eddie feels bad about what he is going to subject her to and tries unsuccessfully to back out of taking her to the dance.  Once Rose figures out what is going on, she berates him and flees the scene.  Feeling remorse, Eddie ditches his friends to apologize to Rose and takes her out on a real date.

An interesting side plot adds depth to the typical, derivative love story of two lonely people who find each other and form a connection.  Through songs and dialogue, we witness the naivety of the young Marines who do not realize what they are getting themselves into in Vietnam.  They think that they will be back in no time and will be heralded as “Hometown Heroes”.  The dramatic irony is heartbreaking as history shows that the broken and traumatized men who did make it back alive were not welcomed with open arms.

While the musical did not get much recognition, having a short run Off-Broadway and then Off-West End (I didn’t know that was a thing?!), I thought this was a good early effort by a writing duo that went on to achieve much greater fame.  The songs ranged from catchy to heartfelt and successfully moved the plot along, although the constant use of scatting syllables like “da da da”, “doo-doo-doot” and “bum bum bum” in multiple songs made me feel like the pair had not yet mastered the art of writing intricate lyrics.

The production, which had a community theatre feel, was put on by Thaumatrope Theatre, an up-and-coming theatre troupe that formed in 2022 with the goal of providing acting opportunities for “early-career artists”.  Reading the cast bios, many of the actors were either recent graduates or still attending schools like Randolph College for Performing Arts, University of Toronto or York University.  The individual actors were talented enough with good singing and acting skills, but the cast could have benefited from a bit more rehearsal time as the timing of some group dance numbers, especially by the marines, seemed a bit off.  However, the main issues with the production were technical as there were audio issues with the microphones so that sometimes the volume was too low for the characters to be heard and sometimes it was so loud that the voices were deafening or sounded screechy.  There was also a problem in the lighting as scenes transitioned from dimly to brightly lit.  Twice in the performance, while trying to brighten the stage lights, harsh glaring spotlights were aimed directly at the audience.  The Harbourfront Centre Theatre has three levels of seating including catwalks leading to the stage and this production made use of all three levels.  The band was permanently situated at the centre of the second level and the actors would appear on the various levels during different scenes.  This staging technique would have been more effective if props were not being moved on and off the darkened stage at the same time, which distracted a bit from the action that was happening above.

Despite these hiccups, I enjoyed the show and am delighted to make an addition to my ever-expanding list of musicals that I have watched.