SOME LIKE IT HOT On Broadway - Reviews & News Thread — Page 5

I’m not sure how this would apply to this. It may be a sticky wicket, unless you have to sign a NDA when arriving at the workshop. I have tickets to next Monday’s workshop (and I am by no means an insider…got tickets through a lottery from a lottery emailed to me by Telecharge). The email specifically said they were doing this as opposed to going “out of town”. I’m assuming the way they are doing this is to stir up buzz.

"Why are we still going ahead with this show?"

Because creatives are getting woke to the fact that identitarian discourse being the bottom line is a zero sum game that does nothing but flatten art into bland, generic monoculture that tries, and never succeeds, to please everyone.

If the Tik Tok Pura-Teens are upset about this, they can do what artists do and CREATE ART THAT IS AN ENTERTAINING AND PROVOCATIVE RESPONSE. But most of them are not artists of any significance and never will be so at the end of the day they're just snivellers with too much time on their hands.

Updated On: 3/2/22 at 09:39 AM

ivy3 said: "Also with that generalization, are we now against all "man in dress"? Wouldn't that also mean no Hairspray, no Kinky Boots, and so on?"

I think that's exactly what these internet children are advocating. If HAIRSPRAY opened in 2022, I think it would have a really hard time opening with a man playing Edna, despite Divine setting the precedent. And the show might not have worked as well with a woman as Edna. (Though Harvey very publicly advocated for someone like Lainie Kazan to replace him as Edna, and then the show could have gone in either direction after that or switched between men and women.)

As we know, it's all about context. TOOTSIE failed because the show didn't connect with mass audiences and was not actually very good (despite the critical acclaim). Internet chatter does not significantly permeate beyond the walls of Twitter, which is a tiny bubble of people who aren't buying full-price tickets.

DOUBTFIRE learned from TOOTSIE and had trans consultants and in general is more palatable as the story of "guy who wants to spend time with his kids and improve his life" instead of "male actor can't get a job so he pretends to be a woman." It, like TOOTSIE, is struggling because it has a bad score, a not-great book, and it's dealing with the looming iconography of Robin Williams.

SOME LIKE IT HOT might –– or might not –– have the benefit of being the third of such musicals, and it has already anticipated some problems by hiring a Black woman as co-bookwriter, in addition to its gay male creative team (Lopez, Shaiman, Wittman, Nicholaw, Meron). We know from Hairspray and The Prom that this team has great compassion towards issues of race and sexuality. One of the three leads of the workshop is non-binary (J. Harrison Ghee), and two are Black. None of this means it's guaranteed to be a hit. But I have MUCH more optimism about this than about Doubtfire's ability to rebound.

Updated On: 3/2/22 at 11:54 AM

A spectator of the workshop said that during act 2 “Let’s Be Bad” from Bombshell as seen on Smash is performed.

Now, don’t get me wrong I love the song. But this sounds a little… lazy to me? I get the Marilyn connection, but I thought Sugar was going in a different direction as a character? Guess they couldn’t top it. It’s a great song for sure!

It’s one of the biggest film titles of all time. You’re underestimating that for the sake of making your already wavy argument.

BroadwayNYC2 said: "It’s one of the biggest film titles of all time. You’re underestimating that for the sake of making your already wavy argument."

Doesn’t mean it will succeed on stage though. How’d Spider-Man turn out?

BroadwayNYC2 said: "It’s one of the biggest film titles of all time. You’re underestimating that for the sake of making your already wavy argument."

Exactly. I am so sick of the "a man wearing a dress is highly offensive" argument. It perfectly illustrates some people's desire to be offended by everything.

EDSOSLO858 said: ""Man wears dress" is no longer a trope, it is highly offensive in 2022."

I don’t find the use of any Bombshell songs lazy, at all. At least they’ll be used in a theatrical production and context.

I think what's wearing is also the fact that it's the same threat over and over played for comedy "if they find out I'm actually a guy then-"

when that threat in real life is actually not funny. It's less "man in dress" isn't funny, it's "man getting caught for wearing a dress" is not funny.

Hairspray works cause it's a drag performance and everyone in the story accepts the reality that she is Edna and there's nothing else to question.

These movies like Tootsie, Mrs. Doubtfire, Some Like it Hot-it's fair to call them classics cause of other elements besides "man in dress funny" like the performances, certain iconic sequences and for Some Like it Hot- the actual Marilyn Monroe.

But they were made when they were made. To bring this story back in this current time, the question forever is why?

Are we incapable of telling new funny stories with men in dresses that feel actually applicable to today's society? At least Kinky Boots dared to do this. Why do we need to keep showing a straight man getting away with murder in drag?

Borstalboy said: "Something tells me it might a little more complicated than that."

I mean I was speaking in hyperbole. But hey, it contributes.