![]() I loved watching Ghee’s reactions to the peculiar but adorable Kevin Del Aguila as Osgood. He’s just that generous a performer, always giving his scene partners plenty to work with. Ghee is absolutely mesmerizing in the role, quite literally in the sense that I found I couldn’t take my eyes off him, even when he wasn’t the focus of the scene. Harrison Ghee makes you believe that all will be well for Jerry/Daphne. But the show is a bit blithe about the long-term prospects for a gender-fluid person of color being “married” to a white man in ’30s America.īut, somehow, the wondrous J. ![]() Living life as a woman initiates a personal discovery in Jerry, who embraces Daphne as “the best part of me.” This of course, is wonderful, and entirely in keeping with modern sensibilities. Slightly more problematic is the plot shift that has Jerry/Daphne embracing gender fluidity. The racial shifts give resonance to numerous moments in the score and the book that address the issues of being Black in the ’30s: getting hired at a historically all-white nightclub, seeking fame in a starkly segregated Hollywood. The Sugar character is now Black, as is the Jerry/Daphne character, the bass-playing member of the central cross-dressing pair, indelibly played by Jack Lemmon in the film. The racial overtones add layers to the characters and depth to the story, although the gender fluidity material almost crosses the line into Harvey Fierstein-esque preachiness.Īt the center of both the movie and the musical is the character of Sugar Kane, the lead singer for the all-female band, played in the film by the legendary Marylin Monroe. The musical keeps this basic framework but adds themes of race and gender identity. The film, of course, is about two Jazz Age musicians who witness a Chicago mob hit and hide out by donning women’s clothes and joining an all-female orchestra. What Shaiman and Whitman have done, in tandem with librettists Amber Ruffin (comedian and writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers) and Matthew López (Tony-winner for the lauded but short-lived The Inheritance), is to concoct a good old-fashioned musical comedy, but with a decidedly modern sensibility. It takes the admittedly formidable original in new and legitimate directions and creates a stand-alone piece that’s almost as funny and, in its own way, just as enjoyable.Īdrianna Hicks in Some Like It Hot. Also, the film is so iconic, so funny, so absolutely perfect as it is, you’d be justified in thinking that there really isn’t anything that a musical version could add to it.Īnd that’s the miracle of the new Some Like It Hot musical. The great Jule Styne, Bob Merrill, and Peter Stone learned this with their 1972 flop, Sugar. What’s more, those wishing to musicalize the classic 1959 film Some Like It Hot do so at their peril. After the instantly forgettable Catch Me If You Can and the unforgettably awful Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it was beginning to look like the Hairspray duo were going to be one-hit wonders. I wasn’t really expecting much from composer/lyricist Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Whitman. (Read my review of the Off-Broadway production.)Īnother significant standout this season has been the joyous and tuneful Some Like It Hot (at the Shubert Theatre, 225 West 44th Street). Hopefully, Kimberly Akimbo, easily the best musical of the lot, will be able to hold on through the notoriously difficult winter months and gain some momentum when it picks up what will likely be a raft of Tony Awards. Of the rest, A Beautiful Noise and & Juliet are middling jukebox tuners, although they seem to be attracting decent crowds, at least for now. KPOP died a rather quick death and Almost Famous recently announced it would be closing in January. However, the attrition has already started. But this season we had no fewer than six new musicals ( Almost Famous, KPOP, & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, A Beautiful Noise, and Some Like It Hot) and one revival ( Into the Woods) before the new year, which doesn’t happen that much. Musicals typically pile up in March and April, right before the Tony deadline. Franklinīroadway has had an unusual number of new musicals so far this season.
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