I recently went into the theater for Some Like It Hot without knowing much about the show. All I knew was that it took place during the prohibition era, a time when the consumption of alcohol was illegal. At the end of the show, I was pleasantly surprised about how much I enjoyed the show. Once again, I didn’t know what to expect from this musical, but the combination of talented singing voices, amazing acting, and intricate costumes made this my favorite Broadway musical I have seen so far.
The only part of the show that confused me was the chase scene at the end. Although this musical fits under the comedy category, the entire plot was leading up to this scene, so I expected for them to take it a little more seriously. I thought that this was going to be the musical’s peak dramatic moment, which would have made it stand out even more, but it turned into a choreographed dance with an upbeat jazz number playing in the background. I’m not saying this scene was done badly, but I thought that the intricacy of this choreography, especially with all the doors made this scene stand out, just not in the way that I was expecting.
The one aspect of the show that stood out the most to me, however, was definitely the costumes. The drastic difference between the costumes in the very first scene of the show where Joe and Jerry, the two main characters who throughout the show are disguised as women after running away from the Mafia after witnessing a murder, were hanging out and the scenes where the all-female singing group they were hiding out among was performing in different cities was impressive as it shows there is an evident range of the types of costumes throughout the show, and this contrast made the costumes worn during all the musical numbers even more impressive. I loved the way that each musical number was an opportunity for the costume department to create a whole new wardrobe for the singing group, where they experimented with a lot of different colors. Sugar Kane’s costumes stood out to me most, but I noticed that all of her costumes, especially during the musical numbers, were all very similar to each other. One might think that the costume department just got lazy when it came to figuring out a cut for all of Sugar’s dresses, but I thought of it in the opposite way; to me, it is evident that the show’s costume department did an amazing job at figuring out what looks best on the actress that played Kane as she looked stunning throughout the entirety of the show. The only thing about the costumes that I didn’t necessarily enjoy was the “drag” Joe and Jerry were in towards the beginning of the show. Personally, it didn’t really look like they were making an attempt to hide in plain sight, but like they were two teenagers putting minimal effort into their Halloween costumes; as the show went on I do believe that Jerry/Daphne’s costumes got better, though. The costumes throughout the entire show really made the experience exceptional, and it really made the entire musical unforgettable. So, overall, I would definitely recommend you seeing this show. This musical is a good opportunity to get together with your friends and family of all ages and to just have a good time.