CLEVELAND, Ohio — “Some Like It Hot” is widely regarded as one of the best movies in the history of cinema. Billy Wilder’s 1959 masterpiece, which starred Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, ranks No. 22 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest Hollywood films of all time. The BBC calls it the greatest comedy ever made.
But when the opportunity came to adapt the classic movie into a Broadway musical, arriving at Playhouse Square for a three-week run starting on Nov. 5, the songwriting duo of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman initially turned it down. The longtime collaborators have been through similar experiences before, having worked on stage versions of beloved movies such as “Hairspray,” “Catch Me If You Can” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
“We knew that it’s a double-edged sword,” Shaiman said. “Even though you’ve got such brilliant material to work with, people can be like, well, let’s see what you do with it and kind of have an attitude about it.”
The source material itself was potentially problematic, too. The plot of “Some Like It Hot” centers on two male musicians who disguise themselves as women and join an all-female band after witnessing a mob hit. The man-in-a-dress-trope has been a comedic staple for a long time, but in today’s culture, it can be a dicey proposition.
But in their book, Matthew López (”The Inheritance”) and Amber Ruffin (”The Wiz”) found several ways to give the story a modern sensibility while staying true to the slapstick spirit of the original and its early 20th-century setting. For Shaiman and Wittman, a key change was reimagining the character of Sugar, played by Monroe in the film, as a Black woman.
Leandra Ellis-Gaston (Sugar) and the first national touring company of “Some Like It Hot,” coming to Playhouse Square Nov. 5-24. (Photo by Matthew Murphy. Image used with permission of photographer)Matthew Murphy
“It was such a great idea that this character could become someone like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald or Lena Horne, making their way to Hollywood in the 1930s to change the world,” Shaiman said. “That excited us so much that our ‘no’ turned into a ‘yes.’”
They were also lured by the musical possibilities created by a switch in the timeframe from the Roaring Twenties to the end of Prohibition in the 1930s. Forget the Charleston— welcome to the Cotton Club.
“There was a different sound that was more about big band,” Wittman added. “Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford, Cab Calloway.”
Shaiman (music, lyrics) and Wittman (lyrics) composed 16 original jazzy numbers for the show and repurposed another, “Let’s Be Bad,” from “Smash,” their cult-favorite NBC television series from a decade ago about the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. On the TV show, the song is performed by Megan Hilty as Monroe, self-destructing on the set of the movie “Some Like It Hot.” In the musical, it serves as a pivotal moment for Jerry, Lemmon’s character in the original, masquerading as Daphne.
“It’s amazing how with a change in the lyrics and attitude of who’s singing it, it becomes a different song,” Shaiman said. “(Here) it’s a celebration of letting yourself go.”
Indeed, another significant change in the musical is its treatment of gender fluidity. In the film, Jerry experiences a feeling that, to Lemmon and Wilder’s credit, is portrayed as playfully ambiguous at worst and implicitly progressive at best. He enjoys being a woman and has a genuinely good time being pursued by the millionaire Osgood, memorably played by Joe E. Brown. But it’s mostly setup for the punchline. When Jerry takes his wig off and admits to being a man, Osgood responds with one of the most famous lines in movie history.
“Well nobody’s perfect,” he says, unfazed, before the credits roll.
“In the movie, it’s just for laughs,” Shaiman said. “But in our show, we go deeper. But we hopefully never lose laughs. We find other ways, kinder ways to find laughs.
“We constantly worked on how could we address issues that are current right now in a show that takes place in 1932,” he continued. “We walk that tightrope of not being anachronistic, but allowing characters to feel the things that people are feeling nowadays and have always felt with words and concepts they didn’t have in the thirties.”
For the songwriters, one of the most powerful responses came from director Steven Spielberg, who was a close friend of Wilder and saw the show on Broadway.
“He said Billy would’ve loved it,” Wittman shared. “I thought that was a great compliment about staying honest but moving the material forward.”
The result is an entertaining production that won four Tony Awards, including Best Choreography. Shaiman and Wittman describe it as a classic musical comedy that will have audiences “tap dancing out of the theater.”
“I dare say this is the best version of the show,” Shaiman teased, noting that he and Wittman tweaked some of the numbers between the Broadway run, which ended in late 2023, and the start of the tour in September. He also praised the new cast, which features Tavis Kordell as Jerry/Daphne, Matt Loehr as Joe/Josephine and Leandra Ellis-Gaston as Sugar.
“They’re phenomenal,” he said. “We can’t believe how lucky we are that everyone is so well suited for their roles.”
“It’s romantic, funny and the tap dancing will drive you wild,” Wittman added.
“Some Like It Hot” is playing at Playhouse Square’s Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, on Nov. 5-24. Tickets are $30-$129 and available at playhousesquare.org.