Stage Review
DOGFIGHT
Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Book by Peter Duchan. Directed by Paul Daigneault.
Music direction by José Delgado. Choreography by Larry Sousa. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through June 4. Tickets: 617-933-8600, www.SpeakEasyStage.com
As a longtime exponent of sophomoric and retrograde attitudes when it comes to the physical appearance of women, Donald Trump might be puzzled by the crisis of conscience that drives the plot of “Dogfight.’’
After all, a man who retweeted a photo mocking Heidi Cruz’s looks, jeered at Rosie O’Donnell’s “fat, ugly face,’’ dismissed Bette Midler as “an extremely unattractive woman,’’ and wrote that New York Times columnist Gail Collins has “The Face of a Dog!,’’ could well wonder why a guy might feel guilty about taking part in a financial contest among a group of Marines to see who can bring the ugliest date to a party.
But there’s a decent human being inside the hard outer shell of Corporal Eddie Birdlace in “Dogfight,’’ now at SpeakEasy Stage Company under the lively and assured direction of Paul Daigneault. Part of the beauty of Jordan J. Ford’s fine performance as Eddie — and of this imperfect but appealingly big-hearted musical — is that we get to see that decent human being slowly emerge, in fits and starts and with moments of backsliding.
It matters greatly to the success of SpeakEasy’s “Dogfight’’ that Rose Fenny, the San Francisco diner waitress who is the target of Eddie’s cruel ruse — and who ultimately coaxes his humanity to the surface — is no mere victim.
Portrayed with nuanced sensitivity by Alejandra M. Parrilla, Rose is an aspiring songwriter inspired by the protest songs of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. She has a quite firm mind of her own, and when Rose learns the real reason Eddie invited her to a platoon party, she responds with gratifying fury. Yes, Rose is insecure about her appearance, and Parrilla touchingly conveys those insecurities along with her excitement in the song “Nothing Short of Wonderful,’’ as Rose tries to choose just the right dress for the party, and in a later scene when Rose and Eddie go to bed. But self-doubt does not define the character; Parrilla’s Rose also radiates strength and a certain serene self-possession.
Based on the 1991 film starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, “Dogfight’’ mostly unfolds as an unspooling of Eddie’s memories of Nov. 21, 1963, one day before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Eddie and his Marine buddies Boland (Jared Troilo, excellent as a bullying alpha dog) and Bernstein (Drew Arisco) are preparing to ship out to a country they don’t seem to know much about: Vietnam.
The score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul evocatively runs the gamut from the bawdy braggadocio of “Some Kinda Time,’’ sung by the Marines while preparing for the “dogfight,’’ to “First Date, Last Night,’’ a tentative duet sung by Rose and Eddie as they fumble uncertainly toward the kind of connection each craves but neither is quite certain how to bring about. Pasek and Paul’s expressive range is not quite matched by Peter Duchan’s book; some scenes feel underdeveloped, though not enough to diminish the show’s overall rewards.
Parrilla is a senior at Boston Conservatory, and Ford is a recent graduate of the school — further reminders of how much musical-theater talent is incubated in this city of ours. In “Dogfight,’’ they are working with two of Boston’s best: director Daigneault (“Violet,’’ “In the Heights,’’ “Next to Normal’’), who creates a sense of vibrant immediacy in the intimate space of the Roberts Studio Theatre, reconfigured so that the audience is seated on three sides of the stage; and McCaela Donovan, who portrays Marcy, a dentally-impaired prostitute hired by one of the Marines as part of a scam to win the “dogfight.’’ Donovan’s portrait of Marcy is so deft — fierce and hilarious yet edged with pathos — that you mourn the character’s disappearance after Act 1. The rest of the cast is also strong, especially Jenna Lea Scott and Patrick Varner, each of whom play multiple roles.
But it is Rose and Eddie who occupy the emotional center of “Dogfight,’’ and the committed performances by Parrilla and Ford underscore the fact that the stakes transcend the usual question of will-they-or-won’t-they? As we wait to see whether Eddie can move beyond the blinkered macho code that constrains him and learn to see Rose’s true beauty, it’s clear that what the Marine faces is nothing less than a test of character. You get the feeling that his happiness depends on him passing it.
DOGFIGHT
Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Book by Peter Duchan. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Music direction by José Delgado. Choreography by Larry Sousa. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, through June 4. Tickets: 617-933-8600, www.SpeakEasyStage.com
Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.
