Review: Some Like It Hot Is A Sizzling Success

Photo: Marc J. Frankin                                                                                            

By Brian Scott Lipton

Giving musical theater audiences what they want has proved to be an increasingly tricky task. Giving them what they “need” is even harder. So, let’s give a round of pre-show applause to “Some Like It Hot,” now at the Shubert Theater, for succeeding on both counts as well as it does. Indeed, this reworking of Billy Wilder’s beloved 1959 film of the same name, set during the madcap days of Prohibition, is likely to have many audience members drinking up every drop.

True, some folks may focus on its imperfections, including a rather overlong second act, with perhaps one or two many songs by the uber-talented Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (including a reworking of “Let’s Be Bad” from their TV show “Smash”) and some tussles with 21st-century political correctness that find book writers Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin on the losing end of at least one argument. But even they will be spectacularly entertained by director Casey Nicholaw’s consistently exciting choreography and the superb efforts of the show’s expert cast. Continue reading...