Review: Strong Performance and Timely Staging Elevate Theater West End's War-Torn Musical, DOGFIGHT

How do you take a tired sitcom trope and give it weight? Set it during a war of the past and stage it during a war of the present, maybe?

That's what Theater West End does with DOGFIGHT, a 2012 Off-Broadway musical based on an acclaimed 1991 film with the same name.

It's the story of three young Marines on the hunt for booze, sex, and unspoken reassurance in San Francisco, where they spend one last night of debauchery before shipping out to battle in the Vietnam War. Their long list of taboo to-dos includes the "dogfight," a time-honored but truly deplorable tradition where Marines bring unwitting dates to a dance in hopes of winning a prize: cash money to the guy with the ugliest gal.

Young Eddie Birdlace is ringleader for the tough-talking Bees, a posse he wants desperately to impress until his dogfight debutante, the goodhearted give-peace-a-chance Rose, prompts him to reconsider the doggery of it all.

If that plot sounds familiar, it's probably because you saw the episode of "Family Matters" where Steve Urkel is heartbroken to learn his hot date was part of a "bring the biggest geek" contest... or "Wizards of Waverly Place" when Gigi brings Harper to a secret drink-tea-with-a-loser soiree... or the 2010 Steve Carell vehicle Dinner for Schmucks. The prank date is a well-worn trope with hints of Pygmalion come-uppance baked in and has a long history of getting wrapped up in under 30 minutes. So what makes DOGFIGHT tenable as a two-act romantic drama?

It's shorter than most musicals, for one thing, and tightly paced. Act One flies by. The songs come in quick succession courtesy of Pasek & Paul, best known for all those ultra-poppy earworms in Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman, and La La Land. They're just as catchy here with bouncy tunes like "Some Kinda Time," but they veer into unexpected Sondheimism elsewhere - not their usual cup of tea.

At Theater West End, DOGFIGHT gets a lift from truly outstanding performances too. In the lead role as Eddie, Jose Rivera is an outright star, gliding across every nimble note with a strong, smooth voice and ably balancing Eddie's outward brashness against the insecurity he's compensating for. Chase Williams and Phillip Edwards flank him as Eddie's bee bros, and not only do they sound very nice whether in two- or three-part harmony but they also manage to find the scared little boys within their characters' rowdy/rude/horny grossness. Carlos Filomeno, Haywood Dunston IV, and Alexander LaPlante are similarly effective and pleasantly tuneful as the remaining Marines. Kyle Stone gets in on the unsettling machismo too. It's an understated turn, but he makes his Lounge Singer into a creepy kind of Dean Martin.

Camryn Chiriboga gives Rose a heartbreaking but authentic sweetness that the whole story turns on, and later she's hilarious in a laugh-out-loud restaurant scene I won't soon forget. And wow does she sound good belting out the title song, a duet with Nala Price as Marcy, a street-smart prostitute who gets wrapped up in the degrading dogfight. Chirboga pulls double duty as co-choreographer with director Derek Critzer. Their musical staging is appealingly theatrical, with a midcentury Jerome Robbins flavor that nicely complements the score's allusions to Sondheim.

Then comes a sudden turn in Act Two when Theater West End rises to the occasion, creating on this unassuming stage a terrifying battlefield with special effects that eclipse any I've seen attempted at this venue before. Music director Charles Stevens, sound designer Michael Citrinite, and sound operator Lance LaBonte work in concert with the cast and Critzer (as both director and lighting designer) to create an impactful and believable moment that reveals what the show is really about.

From the outset, the threat of war hangs heavy over the sitcomish setup, and it's enough to set DOGFIGHT apart from any half-hour of TGIF. This is ultimately a musical about war as a violation of youth, which hits especially hard four weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with all its headlines about regretful soldiers sobbing over the deceit that lured them to battle.

Powerful as that theme may be, DOGFIGHT as written isn't fully the righteous proposition it hopes to be. At its core are some deeply troublesome male figures who engage in truly horrendous behavior, and while theatre is always welcome to put unseemly or complicated characters on the stage, DOGFIGHT never entirely deals with their deeds, which include among other things attempted rape. Playwright Peter Duchan clearly understands his characters to be problematic, but their brisk redemption by way of jaunty music and degrees of forgiveness from the women on stage can at times feel like unearned absolution.

Also unearned: a character arc introduced at the tail end of Act II, when the show pivots focus to veterans' affairs - a worthy topic but one that's given too little too late to be of any real substance here.

DOGFIGHT doesn't get everything right, but it succeeds as a moving piece of theatre, staged stirringly at Theater West End at just the right time. Audiences won't want to miss the stellar acting, singing, and theatrics on display.

Tickets are available from Theater West End, where face coverings are still required for all patrons. (Performers are unmasked but fully vaccinated and undergo routine covid testing prior to performance.) The show, which contains ample R-rated material, runs through April 3rd and is recommended but for adult audiences only.

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What did you think of DOGFIGHT at Theater West End? Let me know on Twitter @AaronWallace.

Photos courtesy of Theater West End, 2022.

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