Dogfight, the 2012 musical by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul—the team behind Dear Evan Hansen and La La Land—opens Friday, Feb 20 in the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre’s Parish Theatre and runs through March 1. Based on a 1991 film starring River Phoenix, Dogfight tells the story of a crude game played by three young Marines in 1963 San Francisco on the eve of their deployment to Vietnam.
Director Anthony Hamilton explains that the three young men pool money and compete to bring the "ugliest" date to a party. Eddie invites Rose, a shy waitress at her mother's diner, who has never been on a date before. What begins as deception transforms into something genuine.
"The whole show is about peeling back the layers," Hamilton says of Rose's character. Hana Westrick, who plays Rose and is a Western Michigan University acting student. Her character is an admirer of the 60s folk scene who sings and accompanies herself on guitar.
Davis, also a WMU acting student and a standout baseball player in high school, says the role honors his grandfather, a Vietnam veteran. The cast has created a wall backstage displaying photos of family members who served in the military.
"I just do my best to honor all the people who served for us and truly thank them on behalf of everybody in the show," Davis says. The production addresses PTSD and how veterans were treated upon returning home.
Hamilton notes Dogfight represents the "redemptive power of love" despite its uncomfortable subject matter. "There's gonna be people who have some very visceral reactions to this," he says, adding that this production has become especially meaningful to the cast and creative team.
The show follows the Civic's recent successful run of Annie and coincides with their Penguin Project production of SpongeBob the Musical.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
