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Howling good time: 'Dog Man' brings beloved policeman with a canine head to Popejoy
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The script for Brandon James Butorovich goes something like 鈥淏ark, bark bark, bark鈥� in 鈥淒og Man: The Musical.鈥�
The family production, which comes to Popejoy Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 10, portrays the life of Dog Man, an animated character who has the head of a dog on the body of a policeman, and loves to fight crime and chew furniture. The character created by Dav Pilkey only has the ability to bark to communicate.
Howling good time: 'Dog Man' brings beloved policeman with a canine head to Popejoy
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Butorovich was a little too old for the 鈥淒og Man鈥� book series when it came out in the mid-2010s. However, he was familiar with 鈥淒og Man鈥� and began doing his research when he was called to audition for the musical. He discovered Pilkey was also the creator of 鈥淐aptain Underpants,鈥� which he did read as a child.
鈥淵ou learn that Dog Man is the head of a dog, body of a cop, and that the big thing is Dog Man doesn鈥檛 speak words,鈥� he explained. 鈥淗e only barks because he has the head of a dog. So, what I did going into the audition, I was given slides to perform. It wasn鈥檛 like a script. I was given scenarios of how would Dog Man act in this scenario? So what I did was, I kind of just watched my dog and mimicked my dog and his behavior and just started to get that into my body, but then also finding ways where he still has the body of a man.鈥�
Butorovich thought of how a dog would use a human body.
鈥淢aybe I would twitch my leg or something like that, or wiggle my behind, you know, fun ways to just act like a dog and then try to mimic the way my dog sounds barking,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚t really was kind of a crazy experience. I鈥檝e never done something like that before as an actor because typically you have a script, you have lines to recite, whereas with Dog Man you don鈥檛, so you鈥檙e kind of just doing different vocalizations of barking and stuff. So even talking about it, I鈥檓 like, 鈥極h my gosh, there鈥檚 so much.鈥欌��
In the production, Dog Man does his best to save the city from Flippy the cyborg fish and his army of Beasty Buildings. He also tries to catch Petey, the world鈥檚 most evilest cat who has cloned himself to seek revenge on Dog Man.
鈥淭hey are comic books, so our show is very energetic,鈥� Butorovich said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very colorful. It鈥檚 very fast-paced, because the book series is like that, too. It鈥檚 really fun on stage. Bringing these characters to life for these young audience members is awesome, because with Dog Man specifically, this character is a hero to a lot of these kids. So being the actor that gets to portray this character on stage is really cool. I really value that.鈥�
Enter George and Harold.
鈥淕eorge and Harold write the comic books,鈥� Butorovich said. 鈥淕eorge and Harold are also writing the musical, as we鈥檙e telling the musical. So it鈥檚 really cool for sure.鈥�
Mundo Ballejos plays the character, Harold.
鈥淚 read Dav Pilkey鈥檚 books, who originally wrote the 鈥楥aptain Underpants鈥� series, and I was obsessed with that as a kid,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was really easy to find myself in the world of George and Harold, creating their own narratives and whatnot. And a lot of the preparation that I did specifically for 鈥楧og Man鈥� was actually buying the books that the musical is based off of, which is the first and the third books. And really honing in on those. I can confidently say that some of the script is straight out of the book, like the words that are said by the characters, what鈥檚 happening in the books, it鈥檚 a copy and paste on stage version of that.鈥�
Ballejos became somewhat of a historian to prepare for the role of Harold and other characters in the production.
鈥淚 really try to gather, almost like a sponge, as much information as I possibly can about these people, so that when I鈥檓 on my feet, figuring out how to walk as them, or how to talk as them, I have the backup of the information ready to go that informs my choices. Especially when I鈥檓 playing Harold. He鈥檚 a 10-year-old boy. I really try to find a lot of my physicality being free flowing, I try to make myself sound like a 10-year-old, and I also try to lose myself into being a child, because a lot of the times, as an adult, you鈥檙e really conscious of what鈥檚 happening on stage and the things around you, but a kid wouldn鈥檛 really care as much. I try to really let go and live blissfully in the imaginary circumstances.鈥�
Ballejos is familiar with performing in front of young audiences.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 realize that I had a passion for it until I was actually doing it,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 identify as a Mexican and Native American individual, and I feel like there鈥檚 not enough of that representation on stage, but especially for kids. I feel like it鈥檚 really upon me as somebody who identifies that way, to put myself out there and show the young people of the generations coming up that you can do what I鈥檓 doing, and it鈥檇 be worth it, and it鈥檇 be exciting and fulfilling, and brown and Black bodies deserve to be on stage.
鈥淚 think for me personally, that鈥檚 what drew me to wanting to tour across the country and also into Canada, because I think representation matters in places where representation isn鈥檛 shown enough.鈥�
