Winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Choreography and Best Costumes, Some Like It Hot is a non-stop fun fest of top-notch singing, dancing and heartfelt jocularity! PPAC presents this tap-dancing, razzle-dazzling Broadway hit that won more theater awards than any show in its season, including a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Based on the classic MGM film by the same name, which has been named the “Funniest American Movie of All Time” by the American Film Institute, this production features direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw.
It’s 1933, in Chicago, when Prohibition has everyone thirsty for excitement. Saxophonist Joe and his bassist buddy, Jerry, find themselves forced to flee the Windy City after witnessing a mob hit. They improvise a risky plan to escape with their lives. With gangsters hot on their heels, they disguise themselves as dress-clad lady musicians, join an all-female jazz band and catch a cross-country train in an attempt to reach Mexico, creating some rather awakening escapism.
While Joe pretends to be a millionaire to win over the band’s sexy singer, Sugar, Jerry finds himself pursued by an actual millionaire. The role of Joe/Josephine was played on opening night by Michael Skrzek, who is originally from Worcester, Mass., making his Broadway national tour debut. Together with Tavis Kordell, who portrays Jerry/Daphne, this duo is unstoppable! They play off each other like two unleashed peas in a pod. Their hysterical antics keep the audience laughing all throughout this stunning production featuring 18 amazing musical numbers. The two tap like no tomorrow, and Kordell couldn’t be more believable as a divine diva in heels.
Sugar is portrayed by Leandra Ellis-Gaston, the sweet-as-molasses party gal who falls fast for Joe—the running man (who she first meets as her fellow lady band member) who is also posing as a German Hollywood producer. She’s mesmerizing to watch, bootylicious with a glorious voice!
The production has an authentic speakeasy jazz feel using brassy strings to create tension when Spats’s (Devon Goffman) gangsters appear. Powerhouse Tarra Connor Jones portrays Sweet Sue, the no-nonsense commanding band conductor. You love to love her and her comedic delivery as she keeps everyone in line. She could blow that beautiful ceiling off with her puissant, five-octave robust voice if allowed.
Marc Shaiman (music & lyrics; Scott Wittman lyrics also) says, “As songwriters, our challenge on Some like It Hot was to celebrate the musical styles of Jazz Age icons like Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Cole Porter, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Lunceford, Louis Jordan, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, but also through our lyrics, to deal truthfully with the dilemmas and discoveries our characters are wrestling with, issues still prevalent today. We were especially inspired by the collaborations between songwriters like Harold Arlen and performers like Ethel Waters and Lena Horne, which proved that white and black artists could— and should— work side by side. Music has always broken down barriers, and that kind of kinship forms the foundation of our score: “Let different rhythms move your seat/For I have always found/We all dance to a different beat/And that’s what makes the world go ‘round!” And thanks to our brilliant director and choreographer, Casey Nicholaw, the show does move to its own special beat.”
Scott Pask delivers attractive, seamlessly sliding quick-change sets that keep your eye on the fun. Resplendent costume design by Gregg Barnes keeps the ladies as alluring or absurd as needed. With all this, what more could you ask for in a great entertainment? This ‘funtastic’ musical is so worthy of your time!
PPAC presents Some Like It Hot through April 27. Run time is about 2.5 hours with a 20-minute intermission. For more information, visit www.ppacri.org.
