Elevator Theatre Company opens their second season with Dogfight, a musical that makes the audience face some of the worst parts of toxic masculinity. Following a group of marines fresh out of bootcamp and a night away from being shipped across the ocean to the Vietnam War. To make the most of their last night, they host the titular Dogfight, where they bring the ugliest date they possibly can to win a cash prize. The show is an uncomfortable watch as we see one side whose trust and integrity is crushed by a side who hides their own pain behind a mask of fake bravado.

Being staged in a near-full round allowed this show to create a deeper connection with the audience, where we felt part of the journey rather than observers of the journey. I had the opportunity to see the show twice: once for an understudy run and another for the principal cast. The limitation with the space was clear on both nights in that I felt like I had one of the best seats in the house the first night and then the worst seats in the house the second night. Staging a show at Live on Elgin can work for smaller shows and I think the space was well used.

The whole show being mostly done without electronic amplification creates an acoustic feel and draws the audience in closer with the intimacy it creates. The biggest drawback to having such a small cast and the tight space is there is no hiding missed notes. I never knew that Dogfight is harmonically dense and laden with overlapping lines; it was hard to miss some of the times when a sour note or a mistimed lyric floated through; however, these occurrences were pretty rare and didn’t mar the overall performance of the show. I want to also bring attention to what I believe is an excellent practice that I wish was more forward: some of the songs in the show were lowered in key. This is a change I appreciate and fully support, as it promotes vocal health, not to mention that I feel most songs and the characters associated with them don’t need to be locked to a certain key. In the ever-growing landscape of notes getting higher and higher each year, I wish we would move away from being able to sing higher = better.

I absolutely love that understudy shows are now a thing in local theatre because it allows those actors who put in the work to actually show the work they’ve done. It also allows us to see a different interpretation of the work. Emma Iris and Charlotte Thompson both played the role of Rose and both nights you were able to see an extremely different Rose. Emma’s version plays more innocent and trusting of the world, which further heightened her growth as a character when her beliefs are shattered at the Dogfight. Charlotte’s version of Rose was a little more wise with a backbone and connected deeply to the grief and pain from the problems in the world she sees. Both versions have their merits and drawbacks, but both versions were perfect in their own way, with my ultimate test being the song “Pretty Funny”: my kryptonite, as it always brings me to the point of tears, and both nights I did not have a dry eye.

From both shows, here are my top picks for some outstanding performances: Charlotte Thompson and Emma Iris both created such a vulnerable and empathetic character that tugged at the heartstrings; I would’ve struggled over this casting decision. Clarissa Fortin as the u/s for Marcy shined during the understudy run, both in vocals and with her performance of being a brazen woman who sees and has seen evils in the world. Drew Werbowski as Birdlace played the emotionally stunted marine who was able to break away from tradition to finally feel the freedom in feeling vulnerable with Rose. His version of “Come Back” mirrored the broken energy from “Pretty Funny” and that longing for the simpler times before.

Overall, what an outstanding opener for the second season of Elevator Theatre Company. Josh Rigo has shown that he is transforming the local scene with emotionally raw performances and is unafraid of tackling some of the harder themes in shows. It is safe to say that I’m excited for the rest of the season and I definitely will remember to bring tissues to the next show.