Theatre / Some Like It Hot

Let's get good!

"We'll just vamp 'til we find the groove
That keeps us both alive
The "Josephine and Geraldine Save Joe and Jerry" Jive!"

— "Vamp!"

Some Like It Hot is a stage musical based on the 1959 film of the same name. It is the second such adaptation of the movie, following Sugar, and features music by Marc Shaiman. Matthew López and Amber Ruffin wrote the book. The musical debuted in December 2022 on Broadway with Christian Borle as Joe and J Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne and ran for about a year. The musical shares its premise with the source material, but with some changes to the plot and characters.

In Prohibition-era Chicago, musicians Joe and Jerry are thick as thieves, but down on their luck as far as employment goes. When they witness their new boss, gangster Spats Colombo, murder three men in cold blood, Joe and Jerry join an all-female band run by the entertainer Sweet Sue as run as "Josephine" and "Daphne", hoping to cross the Mexican border in San Diego. But complications arise: Joe develops an attraction to the band's star, the charismatic singer and aspiring actress Sugar Kane, and eccentric millionaire Osgood Fielding III develops an interest in Daphne. Also, not only have Spats and his men gotten wind of their runaway witnesses' planned absconding to Mexico, law enforcement is also en route. All these plotlines converge on Osgood's hotel, where Sweet Sue also hopes to have the show of her life...

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Tropes:

• Adaptational Context Change: Osgood's most iconic line from the movie, "Nobody's perfect!", is instead spoken by Daphne, replacing "I'm a man!" as the last reason Daphne fears that they can't get marry Osgood. He assures them afterwards that Daphne is perfect for him.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: While the original film has Jerry remain a cis man, this adaptation has the character fully embrace the Daphne persona as part of their identity.
• Adaptational Location Change: The original film has Sweet Sue and her band travel from Chicago to Miami, and Joe and Jerry come along for the ride to escape the mob. In this version, Sue and Sugar being black (along with Jerry and possibly other members, depending on the female ensemble) means they're not heading to Jim Crow-era Florida, but instead to San Diego, California. Instead of hiding out in Miami, Joe and Jerry now plan to cross the border into Mexico.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Unlike in the film where Jerry/Daphne was competing with Joe-as-Josephine for Sugar's affections, Daphne and Sugar develop a sisterly relationship here.
• Child of Two Worlds: San Diego millionaire Osgood Fielding III is ne Pedro Francisco Alvarez, and sings about having to shift between his Mexican and American sides in the past.
• Cigar Chomper: Murderous gangster Spats Colombo is introduced with a cigar in his mouth; a slightly later scene has his office be filled with smoke.
• Disguised in Drag: Male musicians Jerry and Joe need to flee Chicago because they've witnessed a murder. They pass themselves off as women and join an all-female band. The number "Vamp!" is all about this. Jerry eventually realizes that he enjoys not just drag, but being a woman, and embraces Daphne as part of their identity.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Jerry and Joe were raised as brothers and are a package deal at the beginning of the show; "You Can't Have Me (If You Don't Have Him)" is a double-act about how close and in tune they are. Jerry fully accepts Daphne as part of their identity by the end of the show, making it closer to Platonic Life-Partners.
• Lady in Red: Jerry/Daphne accepts a red dress from a colleague for the night out in Tijuana, the first not-so-conservative feminine outfit the character wears in the show. Not only does it reflect their growing confidence in their femininity, it also fits the Latin-inspired dance of "Let's Be Bad" and the budding romance with Osgood.
• Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: Pressed for time, Joe passes himself and Jerry off as women named Josephine and Geraldine. To Joe's confusion, Jerry happily changes his alias to Daphne because he likes the way the name feels, a sign that "he" is more comfortable with a feminine genderfluid identity.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Joe woos Sugar by disguising as a Viennese screenwriter, as a nod to the director/co-writer of the original movie.
• Oral Fixation: "Toothpick Charlie", the man Spats Colombo kills, is called so because he's got a toothpick in his mouth.
• Quirky Ukulele: "Poor Little Millionaire", the number establishing Osgood as an Eccentric Millionaire, has him and his employees play ukuleles to establish how goofy he is.
• Race Lift: The original film's main cast were white Americans, but some tweaks have been made here:
  • Jerry/Daphne, Sugar, and Sweet Sue are reimagined as black entertainers, adding an extra dimension to their struggles trying to make it during Prohibition.
  • Osgood is also reimagined as being of Hispanic ethnicity, specifically Mexican-American.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The song "Let's Be Bad", give or take major lyrics changes, was originally written for and performed in Smash. The two works share songwriters (Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman).
• The Roaring '20s: The musical is set at the tail end of Prohibition-era America and features speakeasies, gangsters, jazz, and plenty of tap dancing.
• Royalties Heir: Osgood can afford to be an eccentric wealthy romantic even during the Great Depression because his father invented root beer.
• Run for the Border: This version of the story has Joe's plan to evade Spats and his henchmen be to tour with Sue and her all-female band across the country to San Diego, then cross the border into Mexico. Daphne, the one who had been developing reservations about escaping, actually spends a fun and romantic evening with Osgood in Tijuana...then goes back to San Diego. The irony is lampshaded.
• Running Gag:
  • People keep cracking jokes about Joe's age, and several characters say "Josephine" looks like an older woman, to Joe's offense.
  • Minnie repeatedly tells Sue about something in the latter's apartment, only for Sue to tell her that she doesn't have that thing, and Minnie to realize that she had broken into Sue's neighbors' apartments.
• Serial Spouse: Osgood is mentioned to have multiple failed marriages; Daphne, as the newest Mrs. Fielding, hopefully will have better odds.
• Sexy Sax Man: Sugar has a thing for sexy saxophonists, who also tend to be the type of man to leave her high and dry.
• Unfortunate Names: Joe has to chuckle at Sugar Kane's real name being Gertrude Mudd.
• Wealthy Yacht Owner: Like in the film, millionaire Osgood has a yacht. Joe "borrows" it for a romantic evening with Sugar.