Dogfight the Musical

Green Valley Theatre Company is Sacramento’s window into less-well-known but engaging musicals, productions that may have created a buzz in the theater world, but not so much with the general theater-going public. This time around, Green Valley introduces us to a strange, compelling and disconcerting 2012 musical adaptation of the 1991 film Dogfight, which profiles three young soldiers going off to Vietnam.

Dogfight the Musical is set in 1963, when Vietnam is unknown to the public, and young men dream of coming back being hailed as heroes like their World War II fathers did. It’s the night before their deployment, and three soldiers are off to make the most of it in the streets of San Francisco. From the beginning, the musical (and movie) sets up an unsettling and distasteful plot aspect that’s both intriguing and disturbing, and ultimately shades the storyline both in credibility and in sympathy.

In a nutshell, the soldiers participate in a ritual called Dogfight, where they must scour the city for the ugliest girls, bring the women to a dance, and the ugliest one is crowned Queen of the Dance. The man who brought the date wins the betting pool, and the women are none the wiser about why they were asked to the dance.

Of course, not all goes according to plan, and there’s heartache, shame, love and regret. To Green Valley’s credit—through wonderfully nuanced and sympathetic performances by cast members with unmistakable talent and chemistry, a solid live orchestra, a clever minimalistic set with rolling props that seamlessly slide on and off stage, and production elements such as dramatic lighting and sounds—the production manages to overcome the plot’s weaknesses. In addition, the production does have solid musical numbers that help in the emotional transitions.

The leads are heartachingly believable with strong vocal talents and layered performance, all while being in total sync with their fellow performers—most notably Jennifer Morrison as Rose and Casey Camacho as Eddie, Jonathan Reinhardt-Cranmer and Scott Scholes as army buddies, and Mariana Seda as Marcy.