Tavis Kordell (left) and Matt Loehr in "Some Like It Hot." Photo by Matthew Murphy The word “madcap” is frequently employed when describing Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy classic “Some Like It Hot.” This is true.
Well, the stage adaptation of “Some Like It Hot” with music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray”) enjoys a wowzer of a madcap moment with the frantic-chasing, door-slamming “Tip, Tap Trouble” number. It’s the comedy highlight of a show that’s never as funny as the film on which it’s based. Though let’s be fair – could any adaptation compete with Tony Curtis and (especially) Jack Lemmon in drag, AND Marilyn Monroe in the bargain? As the national touring production of the 2022 “Some Like It Hot” demonstrates, the stage book’s authors, Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin, were smart enough to avoid a gag-by-gag retelling of the original story co-written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. The premise is the same, if tweaked here and there: Down-on-their-luck Chicago jazz musicians Joe (Matt Loehr) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell) witness a mob execution and to escape the baddies dress up as women and join up with Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, an all-female band heading out on the road. But with modern sensibility in mind (the film, remember, is now more than 65 years old), Lopez and Ruffin have built gender fluidity and awareness of racial discrimination into the “Some Like It Hot” story – never mind that the it’s still set in the ‘30s. There’s even an acknowledgement out loud by one of Sweet Sue’s troupers that women get paid less than men for doing the same job. Trumpers would call these updates to the tale “woke.” Let ‘em. While this musical can be soap-boxy at times, its bid for greater relevance is welcome, and that takes nothing away from the beloved movie. Broadway San Diego has brought to town a likable and tap-dance-happy (too much tap for me, I have to say) show that is escapist entertainment and a tribute to if not a copy of Wilder’s film. The star as Jerry/Daphne, just as Lemmon was on screen, is Kordell. Not only is his character the focal point of what the story wants to say about identity and acceptance, but Kordell is a talented dancer and physical actor in general. Really the only problem with this casting is that he’s a head taller than everyone else in the large ensemble, including Edward Juvier who plays the smitten millionaire Osgood Fielding III. Kordell can’t help being tall, so I’ll let that go. Loehr is less appealing to me in the Joe/Josephine part, but maybe my judgment’s clouded because I always thought Tony Curtis was the weak link in the movie. As the band’s sexy chanteuse Sugar Kane, Leandra Ellis-Gaston gets three tunes to sing – “A Darker Shade of Blue,” “You Coulda Knocked Me Over With a Feather” and “Ride Out the Storm” -- and she possesses the lush voice and high style to deliver each with mood and finesse. Kordell may take the last bow at show’s end, but Ellis-Gaston is the musical star of this production. As with the film, supporting characters get their due. Bandleader Sweet Sue’s role in the story is increased considerably onstage, with Tarra Conner Jones well up to the task. Juvier’s Osgood is a more dashing Osgood than Joe E. Brown was in the movie and his immediate infatuation with Jerry/Daphne is more schoolboyish. Devon Goffman’s Spats Columbo gangster is no George Raft. “Some Like It Hot’s” musical score ranges from the rousing title tune to the shuddering “Fly, Mariposa, Fly” (Osgood’s entreaty to Daphne, weighed down by precious metaphor-making). Most of the time the songs feel like an excuse for someone or everyone to break out into dance. Tap tap tap. And tap again. Few will have this show’s songs in their heads the day after seeing it. Maybe tap lessons signed up for instead? The costume design by Gregg Barnes is superb and the choreography by Casey Nicholaw (who also directed) absolutely ace. Is it any wonder this is a dance show? This was a relief on opening night: The musical’s script calls for Sweet Sue’s band to head not to Florida as in the movie but to California and the Hotel del Coronado, a clear nod to the location where much of Wilder’s flick was filmed. This being the case, I expected audience howls every time “San Diego” was uttered onstage. Parochialism at its most embarrassing. But thankfully, the howls weren’t that loud. Could it be that San Diego’s finally big enough that we don’t need to applaud its presence in movies, TV or theater? Now who’s getting soap-boxy? Sorry about that. “Some Like It Hot” runs through Feb. 2 at the Civic Theatre, downtown.
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AuthorDavid L. Coddon is a Southern California theater critic. Archives
February 2025
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