'Some Like It Hot' was a sizzling hit on Broadway. But its Mirvish run is lukewarm at best

But the version that has found its way to Toronto is lukewarm at best, and somewhat stale after winding across North America over the past 18 months. 

It’s by no means such an unsatisfactory dish as to warrant it being sent back to the kitchen. But one still ought to wonder when director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw, who cooked up this once-delectable feast, last had a taste of this production. 

When I saw “Some Like It Hot” on Broadway four years ago, it was, for me, the strongest show of the season. (In fact, it should have won the Tony for best musical over “Kimberly Akimbo,” which was touching but somewhat bland, both sonically and lyrically.) 

Finally, after years of chamber-sized, kitchen-sink musical dramas, here was an opulent, song-and-dance extravaganza that hearkened back to the Golden Age of Broadway, with a swing-style score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman that was by far their best work since their breakout hit, “Hairspray.”

How disappointing, then, to see what has become of that most excellent musical in this thoroughly mediocre, watered-down tour. 

Scott Pask’s grand, Art Deco-style sets on Broadway, conjuring the sleazy world of Prohibition-era America, have been mostly replaced with flat, flimsy set pieces that fly in from above.

The original 17-piece ensemble that breathed life into Charlie Rosen and Bryan Carter’s brassy, big band orchestrations has been cut to just 12 musicians, who tried their darndest on opening night to fill out the score, yet were hampered by poor mixing that left several songs sounding muddy. 

And then there are Nicholaw’s signature tap numbers. On Broadway, these dance breaks were thrilling — filled with high kicks, rhythmic stomps and serpentine step sequences. While much of the choreography remains the same on tour, many of the ensemble tap dances in this iteration sounded, to my ear, as if they were overlaid with pre-recorded tap tracks. Not only were they distracting but they’re also antithetical to the spirit of tap. (It didn’t even sound like the ensemble members were wearing proper tap shoes.) 

To be fair: It’s almost always inevitable that a touring production will require some cuts to its original Broadway designs so that the show can easily move from city to city. But the cuts to “Some Like It Hot” are so significant and so apparent — especially for a show whose main selling point was its visual grandeur — that this almost looks like a second- or third-run tour, instead of a production fit for a major market like Toronto. 

Thank goodness, however, that Nicholaw has largely spared the musical’s two strongest features. 

The first is Matthew López and Amber Ruffin’s book, which follows two Chicago musicians, Joe (Matt Loehr, playing Tony Curtis’ part from the film) and Jerry (Tavis Kordell, in the role originated on screen by Jack Lemmon), on the run after witnessing a mob hit. Desperate to hightail it out of town before the gangster Spats (Devon Goffman) finds and kills them, the pair disguise themselves as women, with Joe transforming into Josephine, and Jerry into Daphne. Soon, the best friends find themselves joining an all-female band — led by no-nonsense Sweet Sue (DeQuina Moore) — and heading off on tour to California. 

Fast-paced and stuffed with slick jokes, the musical feels nowhere near its two-hour-and-40 minute run time. But for all its humour, López and Ruffin’s book is also counterbalanced with equal amounts of heart.

What’s particularly impressive is how the writers have updated the original 1959 story for contemporary audiences. Their musical adaptation’s cross-dressing narrative steers clear of problematic comedic tropes. Instead, López and Ruffin use that plot point as a launching pad to explore themes of self-discovery and gender fluidity, particularly with Jerry/Daphne and their blossoming relationship with Osgood (Edward Juvier), the proprietor of the California hotel where Daphne and the band are staying. And it’s all achieved extremely sensitively, lending the character’s arc contemporary resonance while also staying true to the era in which the story is set.

The second best part of Nicholaw’s production that has remained intact is his staging of the jaw-dropping 11 o’clock number “Tip Tap Trouble,” without a doubt the best chase sequence I’ve ever seen in a theatre. It’s a nonstop dance extravaganza, complete with an intricately choreographed door-slamming sequence that left me in awe, even on second viewing. 

Across the board, the dance performances from this touring cast are strong — with long lines, high extensions in their kicks and a feeling of weightlessness to their movements. Rock solid, too, is the acting, with the comedy landing effortlessly and the more dramatic moments delivered with appropriate emotional gravitas. 

It’s the singing, rather, that’s more of a mixed bag. Leandra Ellis-Gaston, as Joe’s love interest Sugar and the lead singer of Sue’s band, has a voice several shades too light for the part, along with a tendency to awkwardly distort some of her long vowels. Kordell, as Jerry/Daphne, is also underpowered, with a breathy singing voice that’s often eclipsed by the orchestral accompaniment. 

Loehr fares the best and is a veritable triple-threat performer. Excellent as well is Moore as Sweet Sue, scatting and growling her way through the musical’s title number.  

“Some like it hot, and hot is what I got for you!” she sings, waving a baton in her hand. It’s certainly a lofty promise — and in this production, it’s one that’s never entirely fulfilled.