SOME LIKE IT HOT On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread- Page 2

[EdEval]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 3:21pm

Wasn't this originally done back  in 1972 as "SUGAR" ?  by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill  ran 505 performances.

[bk]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 6:38pm

You would think someone would have the taste to at least acknowledge there was a previous musical version written by people who were rather legendary writers - Jule Styne, Bob Merrill, and Peter Stone.  Not to mention the creative team with Gower Champion at the head.  

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 7:37pm

Shaiman acknowledges it on his Facebook announcement.

[markypoo]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 7:38pm

Anyone else here see the 2003 touring version with Tony Curtis?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 8:14pm

SUGAR may have been a lame show but the music alone is pure broadway class. Big shoes to fill.. I love HAIRSPRAY and yes even the score to BOMBSHELL but I think S&W have had more duds than hits song to song for me.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 9:01pm

darquegk said: "Shaiman acknowledges it on his Facebook announcement."

Here is said Facebook announcement: “SOME LIKE IT HOT! I am so happy that Scott & I can finally talk about this! We are having a great time creating a brand new musical of "SOME LIKE IT HOT" with playwright Matthew Lopez and director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw, which is being produced by Craig Zadan & Neil Meron and The Shuberts. I can't share any info about how we all are approaching it, but if we do what we intend to, I believe it will earn it's right to exist as the second - an alternate, if you will - musical of this film to be written. No one can write better than Jule Styne & Bob Merrill (to say the least), so we are heading in different directions. And I can't wait for you all to see our version of this classic story.”

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 9:59pm

If ever there was a musical based on a classic movie that needed a total rewrite it's Breakfast at Tiffany's. The score for Sugar is delightful. It doesn't need the Hairspray guys to rewrite it. They tried that with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and it didn't work.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 10:08pm

*Yawn*

Maybe they should produce something people will actually want to see.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 11:35pm

I can't speak for that touring show, Marky, but I was in the concert that was presented with Tony Roberts last year at 54 Below. That was a fun night...and with an unexpectedly sold-out house...

Here are pictures if you're interested (I'm the chorus girl in the orange dress).

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/14/18 at 11:56pm

Wonder if they'll build in a lesbian subtext between :"Josephine " and Sugar like in Tootsie?

[pointilismlight]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 1:06pm

I bet Bye Bye Birdie never happens.

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 1:42pm

I primarily perfrom at a smallish professional theatre that nonetheless has a hugely successful run of Superstar every other year. A few years back, our executive producer came in with her big money-making idea: "Bye Bye Birdie! It'll be a smash- buses full of blue-hairs, lining up down the street! Mark my words, it's gonna be bigger than Superstar!"

We went on to have one of the most notorious flops in our company history. To this day, "It's gonna be bigger than Superstar!" is a punchline, but one that NBC is soon not going to be laughing at.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 2:11pm

Mr. Nowack said: "SUGAR may have been a lame show but the music alone is pure broadway class. Big shoes to fill.. I love HAIRSPRAY and yes even the score to BOMBSHELL but I think S&W have had more duds than hits song to song for me."

Hairspray is the only musical of their work together I have seen. And it's one musical I can easily tell you where I adore almost every song.

[sdrick]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 6:20pm

Valentina3 said: ""Well... Sugar ain't exactly quality musical theatre."

First of all, how DARE you :P"

Well, I saw SUGAR in Los Angeles with most of the original cast.  Cyril Ritchard had a heart attack during the run, and Gale Gordon took over the Joe E. Brown role from the film, but Bobby Morse and Larry Kert were very good.  I was very young, but I enjoyed the show quite a lot.  Some Like It Hot has always been a favorite film of mine, and think there is room for another production based on the same source material. Ya' know they're just doin' it for Sugar . . . :)

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/17/18 at 12:52am

greensgreens said: "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!"

I agree about the London cast album with Tommy Steele retitled Some Like it Hot. I'm not sure how much the authors were involved with the rewrites, but the album is almost as enjoyable as the original Broadway cast recording. It's a fun score.

Updated On: 5/18/18 at 12:52 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/18/18 at 1:05pm

I listened to the original Broadway cast recording of Sugar and I'm still scratching my head. The original score is delightful. I understand now that there were changes made for the production in London and I read old playbill articles with Peter Stone discussing the changes made for the 2002 US tour. Peter Stone said David Merrick simply didn't pay for the rights to use the film title and the producers in London and the US tour did pay, thus the title change to the more recognizable name. He talks about how the tour incorporated trunk songs as well as the "Some Like it Hot" title song for the curtain call. He also says "Beautiful Through and Through" was dropped in favor of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" being incorporated as a solo for Tony Curtis' Osgood character. "Beautiful Through and Through" is one of my favorite songs so that's disappointing. They also seem to have cut "What Do You Give to a Man Who's Had Everything?" which is equally disappointing, but overall it seems like Sugar has some strong material to work with. Why in the world are Zadan and Meron ignoring it? And why are they trusting Shaiman and Wittman to write the new score after such disastrous results with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

[Elegance101]

Posted: 5/18/18 at 2:13pm

Well, the score was hardly the problem with CATCF. Plus, every other show they’ve done has at least been fine, musically,

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/18/18 at 6:11pm

I only like a few songs in Catch Me if You Can. Half their songs in Charlie were replaced with better songs from the movie everyone was expecting to hear.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 1:37pm

So, looks like Jennifer López just confirmed in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter that BYE BYE BIRDIE: Live! is dead.   At least with her involvement. 

Here is the quote.  The “we” is referencing her producing partner.  

Speaking of musicals, NBC’s Bye Bye Birdie Live!, which you’re attached to produce and star in, has been delayed twice. Will it ever happen? 

Lopez: These are all projects we want to do, it’s just about finding time. I would have loved to have done Shades for a few more years, but I just can’t. The Vegas residency, which I’ve done for three years, wants another year out of me, but I need a year off. I have two beautiful kids, this amazing boyfriend with his own two kids, and we’re just trying to find time. I’ve been working nonstop since Jan. 1. Nonstop! It’s amazing and I’m grateful, but sometimes things like Bye Bye Birdie go. 

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 2:56pm

Well, I'm at least happy they're adapting an older movie. I'm not sure either one would be good but I'd rather see Casablanca as a musical than Jurassic Park. I know people like Some Like It Hot but hopefully the age of the movie will give them some more creative leeway. I'd rather see something with the creative freedom of Light in the Piazza than the strict adherence to the movie material that seems to hamper the adaptations of newer movies.

[BwayLB]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 3:26pm

BrodyFosse123 said: "So, looks like Jennifer López just confirmed in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter that BYE BYE BIRDIE: Live! is dead. At least with her involvement.

Here is the quote. The “we” is referencing her producing partner.

Speaking of musicals, NBC’sBye Bye Birdie Live!, which you’re attached to produce and star in, has been delayed twice. Will it ever happen?

Lopez:These are all projects we want to do, it’s just about finding time. I would have loved to have doneShadesfor a few more years, but I just can’t. The Vegas residency, which I’ve done for three years, wants another year out of me, but I need a year off. I have two beautiful kids, this amazing boyfriend with his own two kids, and we’re just trying to find time. I’ve been working nonstop since Jan. 1. Nonstop! It’s amazing and I’m grateful, but sometimes things likeBye Bye Birdiego."

Like I said, Meron & Zadan should get someone younger for Rosie.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 3:37pm

Following up the electric Jesus Christ Superstar with the snoozer Bye Bye Birdie would be a huge step backwards.

They'd be foolish if they're not looking at titles that bring the amount of excitement that JCS brought:

Evita (with Lady Gaga), Little Shop of Horrors, Dreamgirls, HAIR, Tommy, a staging of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie (with Donald Glover as Ziggy Stardust), Sweeney Todd, Matilda, Pippin (may I once again suggest Donald Glover... as the Leading Player), Ragtime...

these all feel like much better choices...

Updated On: 5/24/18 at 03:37 PM

[BwayLB]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 3:44pm

I picture Dreamgirls more as a Fox telecast than on NBC. Unless Meron & Zadan can bring in Amber Riley and reunite the West End's creative team. Including Casey Nicalow

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 5:46pm

Sondheimite said: "Following up the electric Jesus Christ Superstar with the snoozer Bye Bye Birdie would be a huge step backwards.

They'd be foolish if they're not looking at titles that bring the amount of excitement that JCS brought:

Evita (with Lady Gaga),Little Shop of Horrors, Dreamgirls, HAIR, Tommy, a staging of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie (with Donald Glover as Ziggy Stardust), Sweeney Todd, Matilda, Pippin (may I once again suggest Donald Glover... as the Leading Player), Ragtime...

these all feel like much better choices..."

I called it, it's HAIR

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Breaking-HAIR-LIVE-To-Air-On-NBC-Spring-2019-20180524

[JSquared2]

Posted: 5/24/18 at 5:55pm

Sondheimite said: "Sondheimite said: "Following up the electric Jesus Christ Superstar with the snoozer Bye Bye Birdie would be a huge step backwards.

They'd be foolish if they're not looking at titles that bring the amount of excitement that JCS brought:

Evita (with Lady Gaga),Little Shop of Horrors, Dreamgirls, HAIR, Tommy, a staging of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie (with Donald Glover as Ziggy Stardust), Sweeney Todd, Matilda, Pippin (may I once again suggest Donald Glover... as the Leading Player), Ragtime...

these all feel like much better choices..."

I called it, it's HAIR

Rattling off a list of a dozen shows isn't exactly "calling it".  Even a broken clock is right 2x a day!