Some Like It Hot Creators Set Talk at Guggenheim's Works & Progress Series | Playbill

Industry News Some Like It Hot Creators Set Talk at Guggenheim's Works & Progress Series

The new musical, based on the 1959 film and featuring a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin and a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, will make its Broadway premiere this season.

The creators of Broadway's upcoming Some Like It Hot will give a talk about the making of the musical as part of the Guggenheim's Works & Progress series October 2 at 7:30 PM.

Adapted from the 1959 film written and directed by Billy WIlder, the musical features a book by The Inheritance Tony winner Matthew López and Amber Ruffin and a score by Hairspray's Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, with the former providing music and both contributing lyrics. Specific participants for the October 2 talk have not yet been announced.

Some Like It Hot will begin performances on Broadway at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre November 1, ahead of a December 11 opening night. The cast will be led by Tony winner Christian Borle as Joe/Josephine, J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne, and Adrianna Hicks as Sugar, along with Kevin Del Aguila as Osgood, NaTasha Yvette Williams as Sweet Sue, Adam Heller as Mulligan, and Mark Lotitio as Spats, all of whom also participated in a developmental workshop earlier this year. Additional casting is to be announced.

The Book of Mormon and Mean Girls' Casey Nicholaw will direct and choreograph, leading a creative team that includes scenic designer Scott Pask, costume designer Gregg Barnes, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound designer Brian Ronan, hair and wig designer Josh Marquette, make-up designer Milagros Medina-Cerdiera, music supervisor Mary-Mitchell Campbell, music director Darryl Archibald, orchestrators Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter, and dance and incidental music arranger Glen Kelly. The production is cast by The Telsey Office.

Inspired by the French film Fanfare of Love, Some Like It Hot follows two Prohibition-era jazz musicians in Chicago (played on screen by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), who witness a mob hit and go into hiding by disguising themselves as members of an all-female band. Through their escape plot, the two become enamored with the band's singer and ukulele player, Sugar, played on screen by Marilyn Monroe. The film was previously adapted for the stage as the 1972 musical Sugar, with a score by Funny Girl songwriters Jule Styne and Bob Merrill and a book by Peter Stone.

Ruffin’s involvement, as previously reported, signals a departure from the source material, resulting in a new take that the writer calls “honestly groundbreaking.” The character of Sugar has been reworked and is now a Black woman.

“It is an exciting proposition to create a show with characters whose race is instrumental and not incidental to the story,” Lopez said in an earlier statement. “It became apparent to me that if we were to honor our commitment to tell that story with honesty and integrity, it required a Black creative voice on the team. It didn’t take long for all of us to agree that Amber was the person to approach.”

Also set to be discussed in the upcoming Works & Progress series is the opera adaptation of The Hours, set to star Kelli O'Hara and Renée Fleming; the art of the choreopoem, a genre created in 1975 by Ntozake Shange with her for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf; and more.

For a full line-up and tickets to the session on Some Like It Hot, visit WorksandProgress.org.

 
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