Regional theater roundup: Fast-paced fun

Regional Theatre of the Palouse brings a mad mix of catchy music and magically quick costume changes to the stage with “Tootsie,” opening tonight at 118 N. Grand Ave., Pullman.

The stage show, based on the 1982 film starring Dustin Hoffman, makes its inland Northwest debut with this production, RTOP Executive Director John Rich said.

Rich was with a group of people from Pullman who saw “Tootsie” on Broadway and knew it was one he wanted to bring to the Palouse.

Andres Felipe, a professional actor from the Los Angeles area, leads the cast as actor Michael Dorsey, who clandestinely takes on the persona of an actress, Dorothy Michaels, who herself is cast in a show.

“It’s a lot,” Felipe said. “And it’s a lot of fun.”

“This man is just running around like crazy,” Rich said. “There’s not a lot of performers who could handle this role.”

Felipe, who saw the original Broadway production in New York and had friends in the touring production, said he’s excited to take it on.

Though he has some drag experience in his arsenal, he said, he didn’t bring that to the role, even though he appears as a woman.

“I didn’t want to look or come across as a drag queen,” he said. “It isn’t a caricature of a woman.”

In fact, Rich said, the stage musical captures the spirit of Hoffman’s “passion project” film, a sort of love letter to women.

Felipe performs alongside Becky Saunders, a professional actor from the East Coast who plays producer Rita Marshall, and local actors including Daphne Gunn, of Pullman, who plays the co-star his character falls for and who also choreographed the show, and Michael Todd, who also directs.

The music, by composer and lyricist David Yazbek, is eminently singable, Rich said: “You leave the show humming or singing the songs every night after rehearsal.”

Show dates are 7 p.m. tonight through Saturday and Wednesday through Feb. 22, and 1:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday and Feb. 22-23.

Tickets, $30-$35, are at rtoptheatre.org/shows/tootsie and the box office, 122 N. Grand Ave., Pullman, (509) 334-0750.

• Pullman High School Drama Club’s production of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” opens next weekend with 7 p.m. performances next Thursday through Feb. 22 and Feb. 27-March 1 with 2 p.m. Saturday matinees.

Performances are in the school’s auditorium at 510 NW Greyhound Way.

Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults at the door or at bit.ly/phsmermaid.

• APOD Productions brings “Daddy Long Legs,” a two-person musical with live instrumental trio accompaniment, to the stage at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 508 S. Main St., Moscow, later this month.

The story of a “witty and winsome young woman and her mysterious benefactor,” based on the 1912 novel by Jean Webster, is in the spirit of “She Loves Me,” “Jane Eyre” and “Pride and Prejudice,” according to an APOD news release.

Tickets, $8-$20, are at bit.ly/apodlonglegs.

• Auditions for Lewiston Civic Theatre’s production of “Steel Magnolias” are at 2 p.m. Saturday, with callbacks at the same time Sunday at the theater’s office, 832 Main St.

Those unable to attend in person can submit video auditions to lctboxoffice@gmail.com.

The story follows a close-knit group of women in a small Southern community “who navigate life’s joys and sorrows together, showcasing the strength and resilience of friendship.”

Actors (18 and older) should prepare a 60-90 second monologue.

Rehearsal will be from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The show runs April 10-27.