Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT at Orpheum Theatre Memphis

Memphis is getting a heat wave and it's coming from Main Street right in the heart of Downtown! Some Like It Hot brings fiery charcters, sultry jazz, powerful belts, and quite a few surprises. 

Based on the 1959 film starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot centers around two talented childhood friends, Jerry and Joe, in Prohibition-era Chicago. After witnessing a mob hit, they disguise themselves as women and flee, joining an all-woman band. 

The musical opened at the Shubert Theatre in December 2022 with Christian Borle as Joe/Josephine, J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne, and Adrianna Hicks as Sugar. The show went on to be nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four of them, including Best Actor in a Musical. Ghee was one of the two first openly-non binary performers to win a Tony Award. The show played its final performance in December 2023 and a national tour was announced earlier that year for 2024. The production is also scheduled to transfer to the West End sometime later in 2025. 

Even though the show features some heavy and rather controversial topics, it is filled with slapstick humor, toe-tapping choreography, and smoothe jazz. One of the numbers in Act II is right out of the KeyStone Kops, with a hilarious chase that includes nearly every cast member and a lot of moving doors. (Seriously, Brava to everyone who was involved with this scene because it was such a finely-tuned machine!) 

Racism and LGBT themes are forerunners in this show and it leaves the audience with the beautiful message of living one's truest self. Interestingly enough, the 1959 film was instrumental in abolishing the Hays Code, a set of rules that was meant to regulate the content of films and avoided any controversial topics and themes. Drag was a principal theme and yet the film went on to be known as one of Hollywood's best comedies. 

The musical opens with Sweet Sue (portrayed by the talented Tarra Conner Jones) immediately captivating audiences with her powerful belt. After Sue is arrested in a raid, she is bailed out and announces she is forming an all-female band that will tour the Western U.S, concluding in San Diego. Enter Jerry and Joe, played by Tavis Kordell (making their national tour debut!) and Matt Loehr, who instantly charm the other characters (and audience) with their charm, dulcet tones, and their eye-catching tap dancing. The friends are immediately confronted with racist white men who try to offer Joe a job while leaving Jerry out in the dust. They make it clear that "you can't have me (if you don't have him)" and showcase their tapping talents. They are offered a job but unfortunately walk in on their new boss committing murder and they are forced to flee. When they find themselves in a women's dressing room, Joe proposes the plan of joining the all-female band and fleeing to Mexico. 

Some Like It Hot oozes talent and it is a very ensemble-heavy show. Kudos to every cast member on that stage because at times, it's difficult to know where to look. Sweet Sue conducts her all-female band (admittedly, at times the band is distracting because it is evident they have been coached on how to move their instruments but it is obvious not all of them are actually playing) and Kordell and Loehr do an incredible job in their portrayals. The humor does not rest but it also becomes immensely heartwarming when Jerry discovers and eventually reveals that he feels more comfortable as Daphne than he ever did as Jerry. Joe also finds love amongst the ruse, as the story goes. Lead singer Sugar Kane, portrayed by Leandra Ellis-Gaston (most recently seen on the Broadway stage as my favorite queen in history, Anne Boleyn, in the hit musical SIX) becomes close friends with Joe's alter-ego Josephine and Joe finds himself falling in love with her. Ellis-Gaston bewitches the audience with her sweet voice and even sweeter demeanor. 

Another personal favorite is Osgood Fielding III, the kind-hearted millionare who owns the hotel that hosts Sue's band. He falls in love with Daphne at first sight, and even when Daphne tries to confess the truth, Osgood insists that he understands, bringing up the question of did he know Daphne's secret the whole time? Edward Juvier brings a kooky kind of adorableness to the role and we can't help but cheer him on as he woos Daphne. 

Casey Nicholaw was nominated for the Tonys as both choreographer and director, winning Best Choreographer. It is impossible to look away when the perfomers are dancing, especially when the Tip-Tap Twins becomes the Tip-Tap Trio with Josephine, Daphne, and Sugar. The other striking entity are the 30s-era costumes, which Gregg Barnes also won the Tony Award for. Bright colors and distinctive designs brings the time period to life even more and makes the audience feel like they took a step, or swing, back in time. 

If you are a fan of the hit show Smash, you will find yourself drawn to the jazzy sounds of Some Like It Hot. Along with Smash, Shaiman and Wittman also composed Hairspray and Catch Me If You Can. They even repurposed one of Smash's songs "Let's Be Bad" as the Act II opener of Some Like It Hot. 

Memphis Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (Collins Theatre)

38.5% of votes

2. RIDE THE CYCLONE (Collins Theatre)

36.8% of votes

3. COME FROM AWAY (Playhouse on the square)

16.2% of votes

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