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New musical mixes Vietnam-bound Marines with a party of homely women

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

A new musical based upon a 1991 film that starred River Phoenix (a flick which I never saw and probably neither did you), “Dogfight” turns out to be a surprisingly tender and tuneful show.

Opening earlier this week at Second Stage Theater, “Dogfight” presents a story that mixes a nasty Neil LaBute-style situation with romantic overtones that recall Paddy Chayefsky’s “Marty”

Mostly set in 1963 San Francisco, the musical spins around three painfully green Marine buddies having their big night out on the town before they ship off to Vietnam, which they have no idea will become such a nightmare.

Key to their babes-and-booze festivities is a “dogfight,” where the soldiers make a bet over who among them will bring the ugliest date to a party.

The handsome Eddie (Derek Klina) sweet-talks Rose (Lindsay Mendez), a plain Jane waitress, into going with him to the wingding. The forthright Rose’s eventual discovery of the actual reason why she is there leads to an angry confrontation with Eddie.

The musical’s second act sees a repentant Eddie spending the rest of the evening enjoying a sweet time with Rose before he departs her bed at dawn. Let’s say no more about subsequent events that will part them.

Interspersing this quiet romance are the fairly obnoxious doings of Eddie’s pals that includes visits to a tattoo parlor and a whorehouse.

Peter Duchan’s script neatly meshes these contrasting episodes and flows naturally with the score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Their trim lyrics and handsome, tuneful music, which often are driven by strong guitar rhythms, suggests the early Beach Boys filtered through a Jason Robert Brown sort of modernity and colored with 1960s folk music (Rose dreams about writing folk songs).

Whatever, the score sounds true to the period and yields a haunting song in “Isn’t It Funny?,” a poignant plaint for the disillusioned Rose.

A very appealing Lindsay Mendez offers a warm voice and a luminous performance as Rose, partnered well by Derek Klena, who makes Eddie seem more thoughtless than stupid. Other especially effective turns among the topnotch 11-member company are provided by Josh Segarra as a brash Marine who is Eddie’s worst influence and by Annaleigh Ashford as a tinny-voiced hooker with a mean air and a wicked beehive.