SOME LIKE IT HOT On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread

Oo nice!

From DKC/O&M

THE SHUBERT ORGANIZATION AND

CRAIG ZADAN & NEIL MERON TO PRODUCE THE NEW MUSICAL

“SOME LIKE IT HOT”

BASED ON THE CLASSIC MGM FILM



BROADWAY PREMIERE SLATED FOR 2020

New York (May 14, 2018) – The Shubert Organization, one of America’s oldest professional theatre companies and the largest theatre owner on Broadway, and movie/television/theatre producers Craig Zadan & Neil Meron, fresh off their juggernaut NBC television event “Jesus Christ Superstar LIVE,” announced today that they have acquired the coveted rights to adapt Some Like It Hot as an all-new musical for the stage from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios. One of the most treasured titles in MGM’s library, the 1959 Billy Wilder comedy was named the Funniest American Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute (AFI). In a survey of over 250 international film critics conducted last year by the BBC, it was voted the greatest comedy in film history. Some Like It Hot follows two musicians who witness a mob-connected murder and flee town, disguising themselves as women in an all-female band.

In a joint statement, Philip J. Smith and Robert E. Wankel (on behalf of The Shubert Organization), and Messrs. Zadan and Meron said, “Some Like It Hot is one of the greatest film comedies ever made. We are grateful to MGM for allowing us to tackle the challenge of translating the film’s singular energy and magic to the stage.”

Jonathan Glickman, President, MGM’s Motion Picture Group and Head of Live Stage Theatrical Productions, said “Some Like It Hot is one of the crown jewels of MGM’s library. Craig, Neil and the Shubert Organization have assembled a world class creative team and we can’t wait to see it on Broadway.”

The score is by Tony Award winning songwriters Marc Shaiman (Music & Lyrics) and Scott Wittman (Lyrics). Messrs. Shaiman and Wittman, who earned Tony Awards for their work on Hairspray, will soon be represented on the big screen with the hugely anticipated Mary Poppins Returns.

The book is by playwright Matthew Lopez, whose two-part epic The Inheritance, which deals with gay life in the aftermath of the AIDS crisis, recently opened to rave reviews at London’s Young Vic.

Some Like It Hot will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, one of the most in-demand director-choreographers in the world, with his production of Dreamgirls playing in London’s West End and three shows currently on Broadway: The Book of Mormon, Aladdin and this season’s Mean Girls, for which he has just been nominated for Tony Awards for direction and choreography.

Some Like It Hot is the first show to be produced under the previously announced development and production deal between The Shubert Organization and Zadan & Meron. They are delighted to welcome Roy Furman, Robert Greenblatt, and the Nederlander Organization to the producing team.

Some Like It Hot is scheduled to premiere on Broadway in 2020.

Yawn. Shaiman and Wittman are..not good.

"Well... Sugar ain't exactly quality musical theatre."

First of all, how DARE you :P

BwayLB said: "Let's hope we get the next NBC show this December. But does this mean Bye Bye Birdie is no more?

The most recent update on Bye Bye Birdie is that they're waiting on the right time in Jennifer Lopez's busy schedule. As for when that next live musical would be, someone asked Craig Zadan about that in a recent Instagram post...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BipUpjEj3H0/?taken-by=craigzadan1

Updated On: 5/14/18 at 12:35 PM

I wonder if this is the answer to the "Bombshell" question: use as much of the material as they can find a place for in a less complicated Marilyn-themed vehicle?

I don't know anything about the book to SUGAR, but the score (at least as it was presented on the Some Like It Hot with Tommy Steele London recording from the mid-90s) is a delight! I'm sure Wittman/Shaiman can cook up something delicious too, but it's gonna be hard to beat "Drive A Man Mad"!

Megan would've been right a few years ago, but isn't she aging out of the "Marilyn" mold at this point? She needs a proper vehicle though, no doubt!

You could definitely make the case of Megan aging out of the Marilyn mold, but the stage gives you back about ten years. Plus, even if it didn't, Marilyn was 34 when she filmed Some Like It Hot - Hilty is only 37. So it's not the hugest stretch in the world. The show is aiming for a 2020 bow - I'd hardly say a forty year old playing a thirty four year old is problematic. It is much closer in age than a lot of the current things running on Broadway. I'm rooting for Hilty to secure this role. And if not her, Emily Padgett, maybe.

As for this being the perfect medium for a "Bombshell" musical - I would perhaps agree. As much as I want Marilyn's story musicalized on stage, it seems as though they wouldn't be able to create a linear book without cutting a lot of the showstoppers that, ultimately, stop the plot of the musical. And I know most SMASH fans wouldn't be too happy about that.

I also hope that Sugar is given more to do in this adaption. It's not her story, but I do definitely believe that Sugar is - and should - be written as a lead actress role.

And if they decided to drop Let's Be Bad into the show as a number for Sugar to introduce her...well....I wouldn't be opposed.

First the book to Bye, Bye Birdie isn't good enough, now the score for the existing Some Like it Hot musical isn't good enough for these guys? Not to mention their butchering of Peter Pan and The Wiz? I'm not sure I like these guys.