What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1490000
6 What's up! January 15-21, 2023 Tootsie Continued From Page 5 of [technical rehearsals]. When you're running it and running it, and rehearsing it, you find your way of doing the show in a healthy way," Becker explains. "I was working with a vocal coach for the singing aspect of the show. And I was working with the coach for the voice aspect of the show to find a place to have my voice set as Dorothy that would be healthy to do for two and a half hours and switching back and forth. So really, it was a team effort of trying to figure it out. And I was lucky to not have to go at it just by myself." He says he also had to break down the role in layers, discovering Michael Dorsey becoming the character of Dorothy Michaels. "When preparing for the role, I really wanted to find a physicality for each character that was different. I feel like Michael would put in the work to really make sure that he moves differently, carries himself differently as Dorothy, so that he wouldn't get caught trying to impersonate this woman and being involved with the Broadway show," Becker explains. "I was watching some interviews and videos of some specific women that I wanted to base physicality off of. And so there's a little bit of like Kerry Washington, Michelle Obama, a lot of Patti LuPone, how she carries herself, because she carries herself with such a confidence." Becker says that one thing they wanted to carry over from the movie was Dorothy's Southern accent. "It's a little bit iconic from the movie, and so we didn't want to throw that away," Becker says. "We picked Dolly Parton, actually, as somebody that we were trying to emulate a little bit of, mainly because of how you talk to her and you feel so loved and uplifted and she's such a light. And that's what Dorothy brings into the room with her and how she's able to connect so well with everybody around her. It was really just kind of like piecing little bits of women that I felt were inspiring and basically putting them in to a blender and making a smoothie that came out as Dorothy." "I relate to his passion for wanting to do the best that he absolutely can and his love for the work itself," says Becker of his character in "Tootsie." "He loves research on the character. He loves the art of acting, and I relate to him on that level. I just think that he definitely has a bad attitude towards other people. And he forgets that it's a collaboration and not just a solo act."