By Gordon Durich
Thousand Oaks, CA (The Hollywood Times) 5/29/23 – Movies morphing into musicals is nothing new. But some work better than others. One that hits the mark is the stage adaptation of the comedy “Tootsie.” Based on the movie starring Dustin Hoffmann, “Tootsie” is the tale of Michael Dorsey, who is desperate to work as an actor, and so becomes Dorothy Michaels.
It’s perhaps hard to imagine the scope of the film as a theatre production- but it was successful enough to win a Tony award, and it’s the kind of film, musical one can see many times. At least that’s my perspective.
Speaking by phone from downtown Los Angeles, Matthew Rella, 24, cast in the role of Max, has a California connection in family and friends. Originally from North New Jersey, Rella described Thousand Oaks as “beautiful” and “an escape from the busyness of downtown LA and Hollywood.” The 24-year-old said he was looking forward to the Thousand Oaks season — his first professional job. “Last summer, my agent got me the audition… The creative team reached out and asked if I could do a Zoom audition.”
Rella graduated from New York’s Marymount Manhattan College. “This is our first West Coast stop. We opened in Rochester, New York after rehearsals in Syracuse, and the rest is history. We’ve gone all over in cities ‘20s and 30s’ (meaning more than 20 or 30 cities, including highlights of West Palm Beach, Florida and Dallas, Texas).”
In this stage version, Rella said, “The character of Max is totally different.”
With writer Robert Horn and director David Solomon, “I worked on my character.” He explained the character he plays is based on the movie but has been “pulled” from it and is different. Because of the difference between life when the movie came out in the ‘80s, and in today’s world, he said the movie needed to be updated for the stage and reflects today’s world. An example is that the character of Julie doesn’t retain much power in the film but in the stage version becomes more independent.”
Audiences at this theater come from a wide region, ranging from the Los Angeles and Hollywood area to Ojai and even Santa Barbara.
An American Theatre Guild presentation, “Tootsie” will lift up her skirts at the Fred Kavli Theatre, Bank of America Performing Arts Center, Thousand Oaks, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. [email protected] 805.449.2787
Phone: Tues.- Sat. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Walk-Up: Tues. – Sat. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
