Based on the Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Motion Picture Some Like It Hot (with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe), this 1930s tale follows two musicians, Joe (Matt Loehr) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell), on the run from the Chicago mob after witnessing a murder. To escape the thugs, the guys decide to don drag and join Sweet Sue’s (Dequine Moore’s) all-girl band, with a final stop in San Diego, California. Joe becomes Josephine in disguise, and Jerry becomes Daphne.
Along the way, the introductions of Sue’s star singer Sugar Cane (Leandra Ellis-Gaston) and millionaire Osgood (Edward Juvier) add to the zany mayhem that ensues when mob leader Spats (Devon Goffman) and his henchmen finally track down Joe and Jerry (unaware they are in disguise as women).
I had seen the original New York production and can recall Scott Pask’s scenic design capturing the grandeur of the Chicago setting, from hotel lobbies, dazzling nightclubs to the backstage bustle of Sweet Sue’s shows. This time around, the set has been adapted for touring. Nevertheless, Pask’s design works well on the Yonge Street Mirvish stage, sumptuously lit by Natasha Katz. From Josh Marquette’s hair design to Gregg Barnes’s costumes and Milagros Medina-Cerdeira’s makeup, the Prohibition-era look has been gorgeously captured and recreated with meticulous care.
Casey Nicholaw’s direction retains a whimsical, cheeky sense of nostalgia while respecting the original film’s intent. He clearly understands the art of comedy and the impeccable timing required for laughs. Act 2’s chase scene, Tip Tap Trouble, features expertly timed slamming doors, a tapping chorus line of beautiful dancers, and various characters in states of disarray and disrobing, creating a rollicking highlight. Nicholaw’s full-company musical numbers remain staged with sharpness and acuity, most notably in the Act One closing title song and the Act Two opening ‘Let’s Be Bad’. For the most part, Brian Ronan maintains an apt balance between the performers and the orchestra. There are times when the lyrics of full-company-sung numbers under Music Director Mark Binns are not as clear, making it harder to appreciate the fun of Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman’s lyrical wordplay.
Several spot-on performances make this production worth the trip to the Ed Mirvish Theatre.
Devon Goffman’s bad-guy Spats is a bona fide (right down to the spats he wears) terrific caricature of a Chicago Prohibition-era mobster. Dequina Moore is sultry as Sweet Sue. There’s a sexy sassiness to Sue in her teasing opening number at the top of Act One (‘What Are You Thirsty For?’). Edward Juvier’s Osgood is a teddy-bear, big-hearted millionaire who falls for Daphne, unaware of who she really is. Juvier is also one hell of a dancer.
Leandra Ellis-Gaston is a vocal knockout as Sugar Cane, most evident in her solo Ride Out the Storm. Ellis-Gaston wisely avoids Marilyn Monroe’s kewpie-doll-sounding voice. There’s a sultry, sexy demeanour to her Sugar, in the same vein as Moore’s Sue. Ellis-Gaston also understands a thing (or two) about comic timing. Her running around in a long gown and high heels during Tip Tap Trouble is admirable.
As central characters, Joe and Jerry (Matt Loehr and Tavis Kordell) are likeable guys who know how to deliver a tap dance number with style. Loehr and Kordell become sentimental reminders of the buddy-film pictures like Bing Crosby/Bob Hope and Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis in Act 1’s ‘‘You Can’t Have Me (if You Don’t Have Him).’ Google it, kids, if you have no idea who Crosby/Hope or Martin/Lewis are.
Joe’s falling for Sugar becomes a gentle reminder of romance comedies from the Hollywood Golden Age. Their ‘Dance the World Away,’ set against an offstage and onstage singing and dancing ensemble in tuxedos and evening gowns, is a delightful, film-worthy romance. Kordell is also one hell of a dancer. When he’s dressed as Daphne, he delivers some awesome high kicks in several musical numbers. Kordell also looks as if he’s enjoying himself while miming a slapping of the bass in the Sweet Sue musical numbers.
Commentary: (Some spoiler alerts ahead.)
While creative liberties have been taken with the Broadway and touring productions of the musical, I’m still on the fence regarding whether these alterations are necessary.
I get it – audience tastes change and grow. Mine certainly have since I’ve continued reviewing. I’m not casting aspersions on the production’s creative team, which has done its due diligence. The programme says the touring show is based on the film.
There are times when I’m a purist at heart and don’t like to see iconic films and theatre adapted, not just yet.
Because I’m not ready.
Some Like It Hot is one of those times.
The portrayal of Jerry/Daphne as transgender, the courageous conversation between Joe and Jerry about the latter’s real self, and the wedding at the end of the musical do not work for me. They’re unnecessary. These three additions alter the comic flavour of the original film for those in the audience (like me) who recall its fun and silliness.
Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis are garish-looking as Josephine and Daphne. That’s part of the appeal and humour of remembering the story. They have trouble learning to walk in high heels, knowing in which hand to hold a purse, or how to incorporate the Monroe wiggle.
In this touring production, the men have no trouble picking up on how women walk in high heels. Although the Jerry/Daphne conversation is a courageous and brave move in the second act (and I’m not denying that transgender people existed in the 1930s because they did. Remember Cabaret?), their dialogue sounds too contrived. While it’s a brave conversation between the two, it’s all too neatly packaged and compacted, feeling more like a twenty-first-century interpretation than a 1930s (or even 1950s, when the film came out) one.
By all means, go and see Some Like It Hot. It’s a terrific afternoon and evening at the theatre. Yes, you should leave with a smile on your face.
If you’re a film or theatre lover who is slow to change, just be aware.
I’m not ready for any literary or theatrical liberties just yet.
I was when I saw Kat Sandler’s fine direction and production of Anne of Green Gables in Stratford last summer.
Just give me a bit more time, please.
Running time: approximately two hours and 40 minutes with one intermission.
The production runs to March 15 at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, 244 Victoria Street, Toronto. For tickets: mirvish.com or call 1-800-461-3333.
DAVID AND HANNAH MIRVISH present
Some Like It Hot Based on the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Motion Picture
Book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin.
Music by Marc Shaiman
Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
Directed and Choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.
To see the rest of the creative team and performers, please visit mirvish.com and click SOME LIKE IT HOT link.
