Tootsie: stage vs screen

Tootsie began as Sydney Pollack's 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman as an out-of-work actor who passes as a woman to land a job, with Jessica Lange as the co-star he falls for. The Broadway musical, which opened in 2019 with songs by David Yazbek and a book by Robert Horn, keeps the premise and the names but moves the disguise into the theater. Here is what changed between screen and stage.

Stage

Broadway musical (2019)

Screen

Tootsie (1982), directed by Sydney Pollack

1. A soap opera becomes a Broadway musical

In the film, Michael Dorsey disguises himself as Dorothy Michaels to win a part on a TV soap opera called Southwest General. In the musical, Dorothy auditions for the Nurse in a new Broadway show, first called Juliet's Curse and later retitled Juliet's Nurse once Dorothy's ideas reshape it. The musical turns the story's setting into the same world its audience is sitting in.

2. Michael's reasons and Sandy's audition

In the film, Michael takes the soap job partly to raise $8,000 to stage his roommate Jeff's play. The musical opens with Michael fired from a show directed by Ron Carlisle, and on his 40th birthday his agent, Stan, tells him he is too difficult to work with. In both versions Michael wins the part his friend Sandy has just failed to get, but on stage Sandy is his neurotic ex-girlfriend rather than an acting student.

3. Les is cut and Max Van Horn is added

In the film, Julie's widowed father Les falls for Dorothy and proposes, and the older soap actor John Van Horn nearly forces himself on her. The musical drops Les and replaces the pursuer with Max Van Horn, a reality star in the cast who sings "This Thing" to Dorothy in Act Two and later thanks her for believing in him.

4. Julie gets her own songs and a bigger romance

In the film, Jessica Lange's Julie is a single mother stuck in an unhealthy relationship with the show's director, and she tells Dorothy plainly that she is not a lesbian. In the musical, Julie plays Juliet and confides in Dorothy in "There Was John." Dorothy kisses her on impulse at the end of Act One, and in Act Two Julie sings "Gone, Gone, Gone" and admits she has feelings for Dorothy.

5. Sandy and Jeff become a couple

In the film, Sandy (Teri Garr) is a friend and acting student who ends things after Michael confesses he loves someone else, and Jeff (Bill Murray) stays the roommate with the play. The musical gives both a larger arc: Jeff is the friend who reads Michael his bucket list, Sandy and Jeff admit an attraction and kiss, and Jeff ends the show by handing Michael a play he has written about the whole experience.

6. A full Yazbek score instead of a theme song

The film is not a musical. Its best-known song, "It Might Be You," is a theme song by Dave Grusin and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, performed by Stephen Bishop. The stage show has an original score by David Yazbek, with numbers such as "Whaddya Do," "I Won't Let You Down," "Unstoppable," and "Who Are You," and its own show-within-a-show, so the songs carry Michael's push and pull between his two selves.

7. Two very different reveals

In the film, a technical problem forces a live broadcast, and Michael reveals on air that Dorothy's character Emily is really her twin brother, Edward. Julie is outraged and punches him. In the musical, Dorothy starts improvising during "Arrivederci!," the finale of Juliet's Nurse, and when Julie stops her, she reveals herself as Michael Dorsey to the whole company. Julie runs off, and Max asks whether Jeff knew.

8. Different endings

In the film, Michael returns Les's ring and shares a beer with him, then tells Julie he was a better man as a woman. She forgives him, and they walk off in conversation. In the musical, Michael apologizes to Sandy, who has grown more confident, then meets Julie in a park, and the two begin to reconcile, tentatively, in "Thank You." Les has no part in it.

Tootsie movie vs musical: FAQs