On Thursday, September 19, my wife and I went to Proctors Theatre to see the national touring company production of Some Like It Hot. A couple of seasons ago, it was a smash on Broadway.It was very useful that we saw the 1959 movie at a cinema in 2023, which starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe.
The interesting thing about the musical is that they took the bones of the fairly absurd storyline from the film and made a not-quite-as-absurd tale. It’s about two musicians in 1933 Chicago. Saxophonist Joe (Matt Loehr) and his best friend and bass player Jerry (Tavis Kordell) need a gig. But they are forced to “flee the Windy City after witnessing a mob hit.”
Meanwhile, in another speakeasy, performer Sweet Sue (Tarra Conner Jones) is arrested in a raid. After exiting jail, she forms an all-girl band and heads to California. Sugar (Leandra Ellis-Gaston) is the fine vocalist in the girl band. With gangsters hot on their heels, Joe becomes Josephine, Jerry becomes Geraldine – no, Daphne! – and they join the band on its cross-country train “for the life-chasing, life-changing trip of a lifetime.”
The show was great and occasionally exhausting. I expect that the chase scene near the movie’s end was edited together. The musical has a similar scene, but it’s astonishing in real-time.
All the performers are tremendous, including Edward Juvier as Osgood Fielding III, the multimillionaire who falls in love with Jerry/Daphne. His character is much more fleshed out than his cinematic predecessor.
The dog knows
“The Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin book with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman is a thrill for all the senses. Scott Pask’s scene design and Natasha Katz’s lighting package create a beautiful world for the cast to inhabit. Gregg Barnes has put together a magnificent array of costumes… Broadway director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw does a wonderful job filling both roles… [He] works every ounce he can from the 25-member cast.”
Since it was a Thursday matinee, we watched a talkback session. Devon Goffman, who played the mobster Spats, and two dancers responded to questions.
The tour dates for Some Like It Hot run through at least August 2025. You should see it if it comes to your town.
The restaurant life
My wife saw the play Seared at Capital Rep in Albany on Saturday, October 5, the penultimate day of the run. The Rep’s page notes:
“Brilliant, hot-headed chef Harry Caesar Samayoa] scores a mention in a food magazine with his signature dish, and his business partner Mike [Kyle Cameron] finally sees profits within reach. The only problem? Harry refuses to recreate his masterpiece for the masses. Mix in a shrewd restaurant consultant [Rin Allen as Emily] and a waiter with dreams of his own, and it all goes to hell in this hilarious and insightful new play that asks us to consider where art ends and commerce begins.”
That’s pretty accurate. What you DON’T tend to get is this:
- ALLERGY NOTICE: Seafood is cooked on stage during “Seared.” NO SHELLFISH. The following foods are also used in “Seared”—
asparagus, bacon, broccoli and broccolini, butter, cabbage, fennel, garlic, gnocchi, lemon, lettuce, mushrooms, oil, onions, pasta, pesto, salmon, some spices (cumin, paprika, mustard seeds, cinnamon, salt), spinach and white fish.
There was actual cooking onstage, and it smelled delicious! Seriously.
As for the play itself, Theresa Rebeck’s mostly comedy was off-Broadway five years ago. I liked the play more than the Berkshire Eagle and WAMC reviewers did. I’ve seen Harry’s ego in artists and other creatives. But it may have been overly long and a tad too shrill.
Still, the Times Union’s dining critic, Susie Powell Davidson, said the food side was correct. : “‘Seared’ taps into sizzles and scent, visuals in precise knife cuts and blaring music to convey escalating tension. This in contrast to the calm collegiality of coffee and doughnuts shared during prep and the cost-of-living issues discussed, from the high price of a Brooklyn doughnut ($3.50 for one) to the post-pandemic topic of equitably split tips.”
The linchpin of the production is the character of Rodney, the waiter (Jovan Davis, who was great in Sweat in March 2024).
