Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT SIZZLES ON TOUR at Providence Performing Arts Center

Every once in a while, you just want the full Broadway treatment: a big, bold, all-singing, all-dancing spectacle with heart, humor, and a belty eleven-o-clock number that brings the house down. Some Like It Hot is exactly that kind of show. The national tour, now lighting up the stage at PPAC, delivers a pitch-perfect evening of musical theatre, packed with knockout performances, powerhouse vocals, and dazzling dance numbers.

The Broadway production earned 13 Tony nominations and took home four in 2023, including Best Choreography (Casey Nicholaw) and Best Lead Actor (J. Harrison Ghee, one of the first openly nonbinary performers to win in a leading category), along with honors for costume design and orchestrations. With a book by Amber Ruffin and Matthew López and music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray/Catch Me If You Can) the show brings this fondly remembered story into the 21st century. The national tour kicked off last fall and continues through early next year.

The plot will be roughly familiar to fans of the 1959 Billy Wilder film: after witnessing a mob hit in Prohibition-era Chicago, struggling musicians Joe and Jerry escape the city disguised as members of an all-female jazz band headed by train for California. Joe (now "Josephine") falls for the band's sultry singer, Sugar Kane, while Jerry (now "Daphne") stumbles into unexpected self-discovery -- and romance of their own. What follows is a whirlwind of quick-change hijinks, tap numbers, an evening in Mexico, and a one of the most joyously loopy chase sequences in musical memory.

The cast is Broadway caliber throughout. Tavis Kordell -- in their national tour debut -- has big shoes to fill as Jerry/Daphne, and totally owns the role. Their transformation hits just the right notes of dawning realization and joy. It's a delight to watch. Opposite them, the night of this review, was understudy Michael Skrzek as Joe/Josephine, and he absolutely nailed it. Their chemistry was delightful and their tap work impeccable. Leandra Ellis-Gaston is a delight as the chanteuse Sugar Kane, by turns brassy and vulnerable, with a fine voice. Tarra Conner Jones brings powerhouse vocals and dry wit as the tough and savvy bandleader. And Edward Javier's Osgood Fielding is a quirky delight (watch for some scene stealing antics with a tossed ukulele).

This is a true ensemble show, and the company is electric. Between big numbers and costume changes, it's a full-on high-energy sprint the whole time, and these actors are there for it. From band members to waiters, to gangsters, every member of the cast brings crisp character work and high-octane presence. And the tap numbers? A highlight. Complex, clean, and a delight to watch. This is a company that's well into the tour and firing on all cylinders.

The brisk pacing of Casey Nicholaw's direction and choreography keeps the action flowing, even in the busiest dance number. Scott Pask's scenic design, slightly streamlined from Broadway, moves us smoothly from jazz clubs to train cars to a Mexican cantina, aided by Natasha Katz’s crisp lighting and Gregg Barnes’s dazzling period costumes (and, really, what's a big musical without a whole lot of costume changes?)  

If there’s a quibble, it’s the sound mix, which can be a challenge in the ornate acoustics of PPAC. The orchestra occasionally overpowered the vocals—a bit of a disappointment in an otherwise flawless presentation.

This is a short run, and it’s absolutely worth making time for. Call your musical-loving friends, rearrange your calendar, and grab tickets before this train leaves the station. Some Like It Hot is big fun, gorgeously staged, and not to be missed.

Some Like It Hot, National Tour, Providence Performing Arts Center, 220 Weybosset St. Providence. Tues-Sun April 22-27. Evenings, matinees Sat and Sun. Tickets $45-89, available at ppacri.org or 401.421.2787.

Photo credit: Matthew Murphy