Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT at ASU Gammage

Guest contributor David Appleford gives a thumbs up to the First National Touring Company’s production of SOME LIKE IT HOT at ASU Gammage.

It’s always a risk to transplant a beloved classic film to the stage, particularly when that film is one so thoroughly embedded in its time as SOME LIKE IT HOT. Yet this latest Broadway adaptation, now performing at ASU Gammage until the 16th, with kinetic direction and crowd-pleasing choreography by Casey Nicholaw, not only succeeds in updating the story but breathes new, surprising life into its proceedings.

This is no mere rehash of the 1959 comedy that starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon; rather, it reimagines the farcical gender-bending escapades with a sleek, energetic, and thoroughly modern sensibility. With music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman, and a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, the show reimagines the beloved story of two hapless jazz musicians running for their lives during Prohibition. And though not often mentioned, but for the record:  the film itself was based on the 1935 French movie Fanfare of Love!

The setting is smartly nudged forward to 1933, trading the film’s Roaring Twenties for the Great Depression’s mix of desperation and opulence. It’s a move that works, heightening the stakes for saxophone player Joe (Matt Loehr) and bass player Jerry (Tavis Kordell), two struggling musicians who don wigs, dresses, and heels to flee from Chicago gangsters after witnessing a mob hit. In their female disguises, Joe becomes Josephine and Jerry becomes Daphne in order to blend in and join an all-female band led by the vivacious Sweet Sue (a show-stopping Tarra Conner Jones who comes on as a force of nature) and the sultry yet somewhat self-possessed Sugar Kane (Leandra Ellis-Gaston), rewriting the Monroe role into something richer than conceived in the 1959 film.  The character may still ooze charm, but her Sugar feels like someone with a clear sense of her own power, not a passive object of male desire.

Where this production really stands apart, however, is in its treatment of the central characters’ gender identities. In this version, Joe and Jerry don’t just slip into female personas to escape danger - they undergo a deeper, almost philosophical journey. Their drag performances are no longer the slapstick escapism of the movie; instead, they serve as a medium for self-discovery. It’s a daring choice for a musical adaptation of a 1950s film that was more interested in lampooning than questioning gender roles, but it works. Ultimately, the show is no longer about men in drag for laughs, it’s about learning who you might really be.  

The performances by a diverse cast are exuberant, as they should be in a show with this much energy. Matt Loehr’s Joe, posing as the prim Josephine, delivers a performance that balances the farcical with the deeply human. His portrayal, a sharp comic creation with a sense of pathos lurking just beneath the surface, never lets you forget that this is still a comedy, but one with genuine emotional resonance. Loehr is hilarious without ever falling into caricature, a delicate balance that keeps his performance from descending into over-the-top absurdity.

However, it is Tavis Kordell’s Daphne who steals the show. Kordell doesn’t just nail the comedy of the role; he invests his Daphne with a complexity that wasn’t there in the film. What was once a role defined by its ridiculousness is now given nuance - Jerry as Daphne isn’t just playing a woman to escape the mob, he’s slowly coming to terms with what femininity means to him.  This makes for a performance that borders on heartbreaking as it is funny.

What’s striking about this SOME LIKE IT HOT is how it simultaneously makes its characters more authentic while keeping the spirit of the original’s absurdity intact. Tarra Conner Jones as Sweet Sue is a case in point - her character is significantly fleshed out into a major role, offering both strong vocals and hilarious delivery.  There’s a richness to the character that wasn’t there before.  And then there’s Edward Juvier as Osgood, the role made famous by Joe E. Brown in the film original. He’s the sugar daddy immediately smitten by Jerry’s Daphne. Juvier’s Osgood is more than just an eccentric millionaire; he’s charming, genuine, and completely endearing, a perfect foil to Kordell’s Daphne.

The staging, too, is a triumph, from Scott Pask’s lush, gleaming thirties Art Deco sets to Gregg Barnes’ shimmering costumes. Every scene feels vibrant and alive, pulsing with the excitement of the era. But, if we’re being honest, it might be the choreography you’ll remember the most. Director Nicholaw’s work here is a spectacle, blending sophistication with sharp humor, just as the musical as a whole deftly balances style with substance.  The farcical climactic chase, where gun-wielding mobsters led by Chicago mob boss Spats (a suitably menacing Devon Goffman) are in hot pursuit of the musicians, the dancers, hotel servers, and anyone else on stage, is performed as a manic, tap-dancing extravaganza - characters tap their way in and out of hotel doors with such frenetic energy, it makes anything choreographed by Busby Berkeley appear positively pedestrian.

If there’s any drawback to the production, it’s the score. Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, perhaps best known for their work on Hairspray, have created a lively, period-appropriate batch of songs, but too many numbers fade into the background rather than seizing the show’s potential for knockout, memorable moments. Still, the relentless energy of the cast when delivering the new score more than makes up for this slight. You won’t leave the theater with any new tunes bouncing around in your head, but you’ll remember being dazzled by the sights and sounds of the performances and how the songs were presented.

In spite of this, the overall effect of the show is undeniable. There’s a joy to SOME LIKE IT HOT that few musicals manage to capture. It has heart, wit, and a refreshing sense of self-awareness that makes it feel both timely and timeless.  The whole production radiates an infectious joy.  More than just an update, this is a reinvention that amplifies the original’s madcap spirit while giving it a beating heart. This is a SOME LIKE IT HOT that doesn’t just riff on the past - it redesigns it, adding a contemporary sensibility that’ll likely resonate with modern audiences in ways the original film couldn’t and doesn’t.  And more importantly, it’s so much fun.

SOME LIKE IT HOT runs through February 16th at: ASU Gammage ~ https://www.asugammage.com/ ~ 1200 S Forest Ave, Tempe, AZ ~ 480-965-3434

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