Matthew L\u00f3pez and Amber Ruffin\u2019s theatrical adaptation of the Billy Wilder (MGM) film, SOME LIKE IT HOT [1], isn\u2019t just vibrant and colorful entertainment.\u00a0 It is a modern transformation circulating in a current 2025 political landscape that requires full-stop recognition for its subject matter.\u00a0 Just as much as the feel good vibes. This next bit of Trivia will tell you why.\u00a0<\/p>\n
JERRY:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019M A MAN!\u201d \u00a0 OSGOOD: \u201cWELL, NOBODY\u2019S PERFECT.\u201d<\/h6>\n
The original SOME LIKE IT HOT, released in 1959, broke onto the movie scene during a time when America was, just like today, criminalizing all homosexual activities and queer expressions.\u00a0 So potent was the mere perception of men \u201ccross-dressing\u201d, that Kansas, for instance, banned the film from being shown in the state, because it (C-D) was \u201ctoo disturbing for Kansans.\u201d [2] Billy Wilder\u2019s script challenged the conservative moral censorship of the Hays Code <\/a>(replaced later by the MPAA film rating system).\u00a0 And though it didn\u2019t exactly banner, \u201cWe shall overcome\u201d, the presentation displayed a sort of sexual fluidity and even tolerance to homosexuality. \u00a0<\/p>\n And that\u2019s my point.\u00a0 While, SOME LIKE IT HOT can be acclaimed for its humor, script, music and performances, then and now, it can equally, still garner praise for its exploration of gender and sexuality.\u00a0 Which is why this musical, beyond its stunning, vintage Broadway reminiscent choreography (by Casey Nicholaw), brilliantly gaudy costuming (by Gregg Barnes) and loud AF musical and lyrical themes (by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), feels so important in this moment.\u00a0 In these \u201chere we go again\u201d times, this musical demands, through much of its deceptively screwball humor, that we pay attention to the diverse people in it.\u00a0 And it gives audiences the opportunity to have fun with all the characters as they play their roles, cooking up old-timey shenanigans and spouting otherwise wildly dated gags, lines and tropes. The cast is marvelously, all-in.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unlike the slightly darker, and optically white dominated movie version, there is real evolution by the end of L\u00f3pez and Ruffin\u2019s book.\u00a0 Although not necessarily its aim, the musical theater production of SOME LIKE IT HOT genuinely creates alternate space.\u00a0 The two lead men do more than put on women\u2019s clothing or mimic behaviors. While Joe (Matt Loehr) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell) initially dress up as females in order to escape Mob retribution, they don\u2019t stomp on the women. They don\u2019t dominate them.\u00a0 The writing here is more fluid, more empathetic.\u00a0 These men are comically albeit slowly becoming more aware of others and of themselves.\u00a0 The same goes for the other characters\u2019 exchanges.\u00a0<\/p>\n Osgood (Edward Juvier) isn\u2019t just a dirty, old, lush whose final words neatly sum up the getaway.\u00a0 He becomes one of the most pivotal characters in the story.\u00a0 Osgood\u2019s eccentricity is layered by a recognizably intrinsic yet quiet understanding of human behavior.\u00a0 So when he says his last line, \u201cWell, nobody\u2019s perfect\u201d, it is pure acceptance of Jerry now Daphne, rather than comic recitation.\u00a0 Sugar (Leandra Ellis-Gaston) and Joe\u2019s attraction to one another is more than just sexual riz dressed in a faux celluloid Studio love wrapper.\u00a0 There\u2019s actual respect.\u00a0 Also the Society Synchopators, starting with Sweet Sue (Tarra Conner Jones) are truly emancipated.\u00a0 They\u2019re not just bubble-headed girls running around in their panties every chance they get, who happen to play instruments. And most of all, Jerry\u2019s self-realization that in his life as a woman he has been his happiest and most fulfilled, elevates this story from being an interesting madcap with a smidgen of letching on the side, to a slice of Cinderella with a giant hug of honesty.\u00a0 Everyone wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n![\"\u00a92009](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/giaonthemove.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Gia_GOTM_570x191.png?resize=570%2C191&ssl=1\")
\u201cEXCUSE ME LADIES WHILE I BRO-OPT.\u201d<\/h6>\n