I originally sent this to @whizzvins, who asked for my thoughts on Some Like It Hot, but I figured this would be interesting to others, so here goes!
First off, Some Like It Hot a great show. The script is killer and hilarious and the production is so, so well done. It was absolutely delightful and I think I was constantly smiling for a full two days after I saw it. My face was so sore, honestly.
I know there’s a lot of skepticism about the “man in a dress” trope being adapted for Broadway, but Some Like It Hot is actually the most heartfelt, sincere, and beautiful exploration of discovering another part of yourself, and the power of how clothes can make you feel – about yourself, and about the world and your place in it. J. Harrison Ghee, who plays Jerry/Daphne, is nonbinary and was involved in the development of not only that character, but the show as a whole, so they really injected their experience into it and it’s done so beautifully. There are two gorgeous numbers about growing into your skin and learning how to be free. It’s really moving, and there were a lot of teary eyes in the theatre.
Some Like It Hot a big band musical - full of big tap numbers and indulgent musical sequences. The costumes are gorgeous, the set is dynamic, and it really captures the nostalgia, extravagance, style, and fun of the golden age musicals while also being very relevant to the modern age.
Now – specifically about Christian Borle… he can DANCE!! And act while doing these big tap numbers, which is so hard to do. AND do most of it in heels! The respect I have for that man just keeps growing. He was brilliant, as usual. He’s so good at toeing the line between comedy and sincerity, and it balances out beautifully in this show especially. Joe/Josephine’s character arc is so well done, and Christian has the perfect sensitivity to do it justice.
Joe is obsessed with sex (and he plays saxophone, so one of the “Freudian slips” he has is telling Sugar he’s really good at sex and then correcting to “sax, sax, I play sax,” which is a great laugh), and views his and Jerry’s disguises only as a tool to keep them safe until they escape to Mexico, so he doesn’t quite understand that Daphne really loves wearing dresses and heels and grows to feel very much like both Daphne AND Jerry, and how that feeling shifts from day to day. Joe’s character arc ends with him becoming less obsessed with sex after listening to Sugar talk about all the men who have used her and abandoned her, and correcting himself when he refers to Daphne as Jerry, and being very protective of Daphne and her identity at the end. Both Joe/Josephine and Jerry/Daphne’s character arcs are so nuanced. It’s really refreshing.
A comedic through line that kept cropping up were jokes about how old Joe/Josephine is. I wonder if those lines were added in once they cast Christian, since he is significantly older than anyone else in the cast. It’s a great laugh, and comes back at the best times.
The rest of the cast is phenomenal and they all have fantastic chemistry together. I’m so, so impressed by them all.
Oh, also – Christian sweats a lot. I mean… A LOT. There’s a reason he said his mobster name would be “Sweaty”!
