The Rundown:
The movie-to-musical juggernaut continues with Broadway’s latest installment, a full-throttle, tap-dancing version of Some Like It Hot. The original 1959 Billy Wilder film co-starred Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as a pair of musicians on the lam after witnessing a mob hit. They join an all-female band fronted by Marilyn Monroe dressed undercover as women and head cross-country with the hopes of escaping to Mexico. But love has other plans.
The powerhouse production team includes music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray), a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, and direction and choreography by hit-maker Casey Nicholaw (The Prom, Aladdin, The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls). But the show’s biggest transformation is its trauma-free embrace of trans identity.
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No Tea, No Shade:
Those who appreciate bigger-is-better will be gleefully impressed with Some Like It Hot’s high-caliber performances and production value. That includes Mariah Carey, who recently joined the production as a producer. “To see how this show continues to expand on the film’s legacy – pushing boundaries, promoting inclusion, celebrating diversity – I’m proud to help bring Some Like It Hot for today’s world to new audiences,” Carey said in a statement.
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The diversity Carey refers to is threefold. Amid Scott Pask’s Art Deco-inspired scenic design and the parade of exquisitely detailed and sequin-bedazzled costumes by Gregg Barnes, Some Like It Hot strikes a poker at racial and gender inequities. And without anachronistically soapboxing the issue, trans identity — free of trauma — takes center stage.
From Tootsie to Mrs. Doubtfire, Broadway audiences have struggled with recent attempts to modernize drag tropes. Some Like It Hot has the benefit of two intersecting storylines that differentiate intent and identity. While Joe/Josephine (Christian Borle) and Jerry/Daphne (J. Harrison Ghee) initially don wigs and dresses to escape the mob, their alter egos shepherd them toward vastly different outcomes. Joe’s masquerade also includes the rouse of an Austrian screenwriter in an attempt to court Sugar (Adrianna Hicks), the headliner of the all-female band they’ve joined. He ultimately realizes that the real Joe is one worth loving. But Jerry’s transformation into Daphne takes a different trajectory.
The band makes it to San Diego, where local millionaire Osgood Fielding III (Kevin Del Aguila) falls head over heels for the statuesque bass player and soon after proposes to Daphne. When asked by Joe, “So, what, you’re gonna wear a dress for the rest of your life?” Jerry responds, “Today. Tomorrow might be a suit and tie. I like having options.”
Director-choreographer Nicholaw balances such moments of revelation with energetic production numbers and a supporting cast of scene-stealing characters, including the smart-tongued band leader Sweet Sue (NaTasha Yvette Williams), mafia don Spats Columbo (Mark Lotito), and a quick-changing ensemble of Society Syncopators, bellhops, and gangsters.
Let’s Have a Moment:
The unofficial rule for musicals is if words are too meager for a character’s expression, they sing, which is precisely what Daphne does after getting engaged in Mexico. “I don’t have the word for what I feel. I just feel more like my self than I have in all my life,” Daphne tells Joe, then breaks into the Act II jazz anthem, “You Coulda Knocked Me Over With a Feather,” confessing:
“Well, I have tried to love many ladies
Back when I sang in a much lower key
Now you could knock me over with a feather cause Joe,
The lady that I’m lovin’ is me!”
The Last Word:
“From the 1940s onward, the idea of a man wearing a dress was the butt of the joke,” INTO Editor-in-Chief Henry Giardina tells Queerty. “And since then, we’ve been primed for trans trauma narratives like Boys Don’t Cry. But Some Like It Hot has sustained appeal with queer audiences because it asks, ‘What if we were radically accepting? What if the world didn’t give a sh*t, gender and sexuality was fluid, and nobody cared? That’s what makes Some Like It Hot a famously perfect ending. Daphne gets to live the life she’s always wanted.”
Some Like It Hot is a rare commodity that delivers accessible, toe-tapping entertainment to the masses (if the masses can afford Broadway ticket prices) while proving that there’s room to recalibrate the narrative, ensuring a big-budget musical can also deliver big heart to a new generation of audiences. Though Daphne sings, “Nobody’s perfect,” Some Like It Hot comes pretty damn close.
Some Like It Hot plays on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.
cynthia_foxe
oh, how woke…………..
dbmcvey
And now we know who you are.
RIGay
Loved the movie, I am sure the musical will be great! This is following the same trajectory as “The Producers”; taking a more-or-less static movie with some trans overtones (Roger Debris) and raising the roof with large production numbers (“Keep it gay!”).
Though I may not make it down to NYC, I will look for the traveling company to hit Southern New England!
Neoprene
“But the show’s biggest transformation is its trauma-free embrace of trans identity.”
Well, it’s about time. I know I have been waiting for years for trauma-free embrace of trans identity. Praise Jesus it has finally happened!
dbmcvey
And Neoprene is triggered…again.
SammySeattle
Not mentioned in the article, “Some Like it Hot” was already made into a musical in 1972. It was called “Sugar” and starred Tony Roberts, Robert Morse and Elaine Joyce.
dbmcvey
“Sugar” is a cute show but it never seemed to catch on. There were several revival attempts that never went anywhere.
dbmcvey
I like what I’ve heard so far of the score.