A timeless classic updated with surgical precision to suit modern themes, the touring musical production of "Some Like it Hot" seems built to draw laughs and poke at countercultural taboos for several more decades.
Based on the 1959 Billy Wilder film and the 2022 Broadway musical it inspired, the show is a tap dance fan's delight, bursting at the seams with expertly choreographed numbers, hummable songs and over-the-top comedic performances.
Subtly dazzling stagecraft, including twinkling stars in the night sky and revolving doors employed for a show-stopping climax tops off a delightful production that oozes sweetness and a sense of shared social progress.
Powered by lead performances from Matt Loehr, as Joe/Josephine, and Tavis Kordell, as Jerry/Daphne, the show tells the story of con artist musicians who witness a gangland murder, then escape retribution by masquerading as women and joining an all-female jazz band.
Chemistry between the leading men is a necessity, and Loehr and Kordell capture an easy sense of friendship with aplomb. Other standouts include Tarra Conner Jones, who impresses as band leader Sweet Sue, and Leandra Ellis-Gaston, who belts out stunning tunes as the lead singer, Sugar.
While many hokey themes and gags from the original film manage to survive, the book benefits from decidedly 21st century touches, including a bold penchant for recasting the homophobic and anti-trans themes from the earlier work in supportive and understanding ways.
"Some Like it Hot" bubbles with fun from curtain to curtain, managing to overcome some filler songs and a severely dated premise in order to revitalize it as something that finds truth to the human condition and social consciousness as its evolved since the mid 1950s.
This modern take on "Some Like it Hot" manages to exhibit a winning sense of cool.
"Some Like it Hot" plays through Feb. 23 at Centennial Hall. Buy tickets here.
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