Music Review: Some Like It Hot (Official Broadway Cast Recording) by Marc Shaiman and others

Some Like It Hot (Official Broadway Cast Recording)
music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin (Hoopla Music, and hopefully on CD eventually)

The 1959 film Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, is considered by many film critics and fans to be among the greatest films ever made, a certainly one of the best Comedy films of all time. This stage musical, which opened on Broadway in 2022, is scheduled to close before the end of 2023, and features much of the same plot as the film, but has been expanded to explore issues of racial disparity and gender identity.

 

Joe (Christian Borle) and Jerry (J. Harrison Ghee) are best friends and musicians, trying to break into a big-name club in Chicago during prohibition. Though do they receive a break, they then witness a gangland slaying and have to go on the lam to avoid being rubbed out by the mobster whose club they were performing in. Desperate, they decide to impersonate women, and join the all-girl band Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters, leaving Chicago and traveling by train to California. Joe becomes Josephine, and Jerry becomes Daphne. Joe falls for Sugar Cane, a young woman with dreams of California stardom. When they reach San Diego, the Syncopaters are booked to perform at the glamorous Hotel Coronado, owned by quirky eccentric millionaire Osgood Fielding III, who immediately finds himself attracted to Jerry’s alter-ego Daphne.

 

Sue, Sugar Cane and Jerry/Daphne are all portrayed by actors of color in this production, and some of the new songs refer to the societal hurdles they face as musicians and performers. Jerry also finds himself far more comfortable in the skin of Daphne than he does of himself, and Osgood reveals that he likes Daphne, no matter who s/he is. The arrival of the pursuing mobsters leads to chase sequences and the revelation of Joe and Jerry’s actual identities…but it’s all okay in the end.

 

Featuring music by Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman (both of whom did the music for the musicals Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can and the film Mary Poppins Returns), this musical is filled with rousing song-and-dance numbers as well as more introspective, pensive songs. The musical opens with the fast-paced “What Are You Thirsty For?” and “You Can’t Have Me (If You Don’t Have Him)”. I particularly enjoyed “At the Old Majestic Nickel Matinee”, “Let’s Be Bad”, “Dance the World Away” and “Ride Out the Storm”. And, of course, the title song “Some Like It Hot” is really catching as well. Personally, I enjoyed listening to this on CD, with a booklet that included extensive liner notes that helped explain what’s going on.

 

This is definitely a 21st Century take (with updated societal views) on a 64-year-old film masterpiece. Both are excellent in their own separate ways. I’ve been a fan of actor Christian Borle for many years, and while he does a terrific job as Joe/Josephine, it is J. Harrison Ghee who steals the show as Jerry/Daphne, and won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Musical.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the original classic film starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, or Hairspray by the same creative team as this musical.)

 

( Wikipedia entry for the Some Like It Hot musical )

 

See Donna G.’s review of the film Some Like it Hot in the March 2011 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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