TOOTSIE: A MAN PLAYING A MAN PLAYING A WOMAN PLAYING A
… while Denis Jones (Honeymoon in Vegas) provides the sterling choreography. A dance combination from the show-within-the-show’s director/choreographer—“bounce bounce bounce bounce, Fosse arm, Fosse arm” etc.—is so outlandishly successful that they manically repeat it several times. Word to the wise: don’t rush out early in the curtain call.
Broadway Review: ‘Tootsie’
From the gaudy Renaissance costumes (by William Ivey Long) to the over-the-top choreography (from Denis Jones), the creatives nail it.
Tootsie, with Santino Fontana, gets all dressed up for Broadway: EW review
The score, by Tony winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit), and choreography by Denis Jones are light and lively.
Pre-Broadway Review: ‘Tootsie’ the Musical
The choreography, from Denis Jones, a series of bounces and gyrations, gets satirized by Rogers’ Carlisle early and then makes those movements charming for the best number of the evening, a “Producers”-like tribute to the jittery excitement of opening night.
In the boffo Broadway-bound 'Tootsie,' Dorothy sings
Still, “Tootsie” gets so very much right. It’s by far the best of this recent crop of Chicago tryouts: I’ve surely never seen a musical comedy so deliciously lampoon the familiar tropes of Broadway choreography (choreographer Denis Jones has both guts and self-awareness) and, by being so palpably warmhearted, it avoids causing any offense in an era much changed from 1982. No easy feat, that.
‘Tootsie’ Musical Review
A big highlight of the show was Denis Jones’s bursting choreography that was executed flawlessly by the talented ensemble and kept the show fast and fluid.