Through November 24
Recipe for joy? Mix stellar choreography, terrific dancers, witty lyrics and cool voices, and stir lightly. The result, a fabulous opening night at Cleveland’s Playhouse Square for Broadway’s Tony-award-winning musical Some Like It Hot.
Yes, it’s another musical based on a film, this time the eponymous (and hilarious) 1959 MGM film starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. And thanks to award-winning direction and choreography by Casey Nickolaw and the efforts of a cast of thousands (no, just over two dozen , but it seemed like more) who twirl and tap and sing, this national tour company does the show proud.
The story? Prohibition-era mobsters are after Joe and Jerry, two hapless Chicago musicians who witnessed a mob hit. Lucky for them, they run into a band director who needs two players for a cross-country tour. The only hitch? It’s an all-female ensemble.
No problem. Easy answer. Put on a dress and a beautiful wig. It works and Sweet Sue (a commanding Tarra Conner Jones) hires them. After dozens of musical stops along the way, all ends well. In this case, cross-dressing (aka “drag”) saves lives and inspires true love. Scandalous idea in the 1930s? Maybe, but it worked.
Drag becomes both Joe (played by Matt Loehr, who becomes “Josephine”) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell, who transforms into “Daphne”). As Loehr switches between fussy Josephine and romantic Joe, he seems to channel comedian Dana Carvey’s blend of funny and sweet.
And as Daphne, Kordell dazzles with lovely moves, sings like a dream, and makes super-rich Osgood (and us) fall in love. Osgood (fast-footed comic Edward Juvier) and Daphne steal the show when Osgood proposes and Daphne confesses the truth. Osgood merely shrugs and says “Well, nobody’s perfect.”
And let’s not forget Sugar (the touring company’s glam vocalist and the object of smitten Joe’s affections). She’s beautifully portrayed by Leandra Ellis-Gaston. Ellis-Gaston’s Sugar gave vivid life and meaning to key songs, “A Darker Shade of Blue” and “Ride Out the Storm.”
Dancing genius athletes (all dancers are athletes, no?) and singers played gangsters, bellhops, Miss Sugar’s dancers and more in lively numbers with catchy titles: “Let’s Be Bad,” “Dance the World Away” and “Tip Tap Trouble.”
Credits also should go to the show’s creative team which includes book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman. Scott Pask (with striking sets), Gregg Barnes (beautiful costumes), Natasha Katz (lights), Brian Ronan (sound), Josh Marquette (hair), and Milagros Medina-Cerdeira (makeup) also contributed. Mark Binns conducted the small orchestra from the keyboard. Music coordinator Kristy Norter, score supervisor Samuel Hoad, and keyboard programmer Randy Cohen made the music flow.
Bottom Line: After the show, many of us (myself included) were quick stepping up the aisles. Smiles? Yes, everywhere. Much needed respite from elections and electioneering. Call it medicine (it’s so good for you) and indulge in this snappy delight. Good for us.
One Response to “THEATER REVIEW: “Some Like It Hot” @ Playhouse Square by Laura Kennelly”
Edward Mycue
It is re-living re-viving re-peating light-drenching sweet (“SUGAR” — MS MARILYN MONROE — un-named) re-membering in this re-view from the bold de-lighting word-smith writer LAURA KENNELLY this pharmacy of drugless fun varsity-pioneering. I remember her as Laura Ballard with her skin like sunlight, hair hennaed mahogany rose and a smile that covered the whole of the north central grasslands surrounding the sparkling Denton dragon city in Texas about 35 miles of Dallas. Then not toxic
times in her era of showering laughter. She was studying journalism then and a PhD in the history of language in Chicago.
LORD LAUGHT OUT LOUD. Her father my favorite professor taught me then in Tudor literature and criticism that fired me.