Marc J. Franklin
Some Like it Hot (Sam S. Shubert Theatre, booking to Sept 3, 2023) is a razzle-dazzle puzzle—a proudly old-school Broadway musical based on the much-beloved 1959 film that also aims to take account of the times it is now showing in. The dancing and singing are a delight; Some Like it Hot reminds you that in shows both exquisite and terrible—and everything in between—brilliant Broadway dancers and musicians are the unsung backbones of so many productions. They deserve a special round of applause for their work in this show.
Here, the Jazz Age sound- and stage-filling movement are on a grand scale; Casey Nicholaw both directs and spectacularly choreographs the show. And yet, despite the bravura set pieces Some Like it Hot serves up—and, to be clear, they are among the most wow on Broadway right now—something is missing in the story amid the colorful chaos, some kind of heart or through-line to link its glittering thrills together. The wrapping of the show sparkles—including costumes by Gregg Barnes, design by Scott Pask, lighting by Natasha Katz, and orchestrations by Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter—while its narrative feels more unsurely focused.
The most significant knot the show confronts is its presentation of drag and gender identity, and the part-joke, part-personal odyssey that unfolds when Joe (Christian Borle) and Jerry (J. Harrison Ghee), in a desperate attempt to escape the Mob—having witnessed a bloody hit in Depression-era Chicago—take on the identities of Josephine and Daphne, two female musicians in an all-woman band. As they run from Spats (Mark Lotito) and his henchmen, everything becomes much more complicated when Joe falls for singer Sugar Kane (Adrianna Hicks), and millionaire Osgood (Kevin Del Aguila) falls for Daphne.