Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT at Hollywood Pantages Theatre

Despite a legendarily troubled production, the 1959 romantic comedy “Some Like It Hot” (based on a 1935 French film called “Fanfare of Love”), directed by Billy Wilder and starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, was a box-office smash, grossing 17 times its budget, earning six Oscar nominations (winning for Best Costume Design), and becoming a classic that has endured for decades, widely considered one of the best rom-coms ever. The Broadway adaptation (the second, after the 1972 musical “Sugar” with many other variations along the way) launched in 2022 with music by Marc Shaiman, music and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and book by Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin, winning four Tonys. And it is a dazzling, high-energy burst of pure joy.

When two musicians, Joe (Matt Loehr) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell), witness a mob hit in Depression-era Chicago, they decide to get out of Dodge by dressing in drag and joining an all-female band, Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, heading by train to San Diego. Hilarity and high jinks ensue.

The book deviates from the screenplay, updating it for more contemporary times, but it does so in an organic way. It’s like this is exactly how the film would have been if it had been able to be in the 1950s. It’s clever and smart but not smirking. It’s romantic and sweet, but never saccharine. Everything about it fires on all cylinders, gleaming like a brass band.

The characters are fully fleshed out, and director Casey Nicholaw gets the most natural performances from his entire cast. The comedic timing is impeccable, each of the players astonishing. Loehr and Kordell have fantastic chemistry, a real bromance that is the heart of the show even when romances emerge. Loehr steals every scene he’s in without stealing thunder from anyone else, and Kordell matches him with movie star presence and poise. Leandra Ellis-Gaston, who plays Sugar Kane, the band’s lead singer who is planning to ditch the group and go to Hollywood, is fantastic. Edward Juvier, playing a smitten millionaire, comes in fairly late in the first act, but he brings such a spark, such zest, that he gooses the energy of the show, which was already at 10, making a splashy and memorable entrance.

Playing double duty, director Nicholaw also choreographs, and to astounding effect. The tapping itself is jaw-dropping. The costumes by Gregg Barnes are exquisite, and the set design by Scott Pask is beautiful and creatively staged. The music and lyrics soar with the phenomenal vocals, whether a solo, duet, or the whole ensemble.

SOME LIKE IT HOT is uproarious and moving and a feast for the eyes and the ears. And while the ending of the movie is classic, this goes in a different direction (while still casting a nod to the original), because this story is still relevant today, and maybe more than ever. Who you are versus who the world wants you to be versus who you’re meant to be is something we all grapple with and Lopez and Ruffin bring the 1930s staunchly into the 2020s, tackling social issues with heart and soul and aplomb.

Photos by Matthew Murphy

Los Angeles Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Hollywood Bowl)

9.2% of votes

2. HAIR (Conundrum Theatre)

5% of votes

3. HEATHERS (Backyard Playhouse: Treetop Production)

4.9% of votes

Vote Now!