Tootsie Star Santino Fontana on How Backstage Is Like a War Movie, His Costume Is Like Shawshank & More on Show People

Santino Fontana is known and loved for performances in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Cinderella, Act One, Hello, Dolly! and many more. Now the 2019 Tony nominee is wowing audiences as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in the Broadway adaptation of the 1982 film Tootsie. Fontana kicked off his heels and stopped by Show People with Paul Wontorek to discuss bringing Tootsie to the Great White Way, his quick-change "pit crew" and awards season.  

1. PLAYING DOROTHY FEELS LIKE A RESPONSIBILITY
“To be given the responsibility to play these people is a great one. I just wanted to make sure we did it right. It’s great to be a part of something that’s this flat-out funny. There’s that quote, ‘If you’re going to tell people the truth, make them laugh or they’ll kill you.’ Art is to create conversation, so let’s have it. I think everybody has a different definition of what drag is. Michael is trying to con people. He starts with a con, and he ends with a conscience.” 

2. HIS GLAM SQUAD IS NO JOKE
“It’s a pit crew. It’s like a village with flashlights. We do fingernails. We do hair. We do makeup. We do glasses, lips, corset, dress, bra, shoes. I really want them to have people follow us. It’s never the same. Something will go wrong. A fingernail will pop, and I have to say 'left pointer.' I keep bleeding. We don’t know why exactly. There are eight million props. I get snagged on them. It’s fast. Bing, bang, boom, baby! It’s like a war back there. It’s a war movie. It’s like a war movie! There are people shouting. You can’t really tell which direction you’re facing. There’s smoke sometimes. There’s loud noises. There’s a lot of people. You don’t know who’s on your side and who’s not.”

3. WILLIAM IVEY LONG HAD A "CHEEKY" SOLUTION FOR HIDING HIS MICS
“One of the first things [costume designer] William Ivey Long asked was, ‘Where are we putting the mics? We’ve got eight million quick changes. Where are the cords, so we don’t get snagged?’ I said, ‘We’ve got to Shawshank them.’ Shawshank Redemption? It’s one of my favorite movies. You know how Andy Dufresne hides the hammer in the Bible? It’s like with the butt pads. The mic is in the butt pad.”

Other must-read highlights:

ON TOUGH CONVERSATIONS
“I think of myself as a progressive guy and a feminist. I know a lot of people don’t like labels and that means different things to different people. I am 100 percent in favor of equal rights for all people. If that makes me a feminist, then I am. That said, I don’t know what I don’t know. I feel like a lot of men who are allies don’t want to upset people, and the danger there is we retreat. We back up, and we get silent. Suddenly, we’re doing no different than the people who are actually trying to rewind progress. How do you become a part of the conversation respectfully?”

ON GETTING HIS DOROTHY MICHAELS LOOK DOWN
“They showed me all of these boards William Ivey Long had in the studio, where he had taken celebrities—Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Tina Fey—women that he felt like I could be related to. But he cut out my face and their face, and there was a whole sequence of photos where he literally combined them—so like my eyes were on their face or their eyes were on my face. He was like, ‘How does this make you feel?’ I was like, ‘Strange?’ He was like, ‘We all thought you would start crying.’”

ON BRINGING TOOTSIE TO BROADWAY
“I don’t think any of us thought it was going to be as funny as it is. Scott Ellis called me three years ago. He called and said, ‘I got this script, will you read it?’ So, I watched the movie then. That part’s great. I’ve gone to the screenplay a bunch. I’m a huge [original Tootsie screenwriter] Larry Gelbart fan. Little Night Music was based on a movie. It just wasn’t as popular. The vast majority of successful musicals that we all can name are adaptations: books, movies, plays—they’re all adaptations.”

ON HIS TOOTSIE CAST BFFS
"We really are a family. This cast: we are genuinely friends. We really do hang out. We're going to Medieval Times as a group."

ON AWARDS SEASON
“I don’t have a lot of feelings about it. I’ve been lucky enough to be around for a while now ,so I kind of get the lay of the land. I’m incredibly lucky and grateful for what I get to do. That’s the prize. Any awards recognition is fantastic for the show and the company. That is what is most important to me. It all means different things to different people. I’m flattered and honored. But papa’s got a show to do.”

Watch the full episode of Show People with Paul Wontorek below!

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