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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. We continue on with our coverage of Broadway's 2 for 1 ticket week initiative.

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The new musical adaptation of the classic 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot shares the same basic plot as the original film. Two male musicians in prohibition-era Chicago become witnesses to a gang murder to escape a vengeful mob boss. Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as women and join a traveling all-female band. There they meet the Stars in Her Eyes singer Sugar Kane, was one of Marilyn Monroe's most famous parts. In the Broadway musical with a new book from Amber Ruffin and Matthew Lopez, it has moved beyond that ancient sight gag of men dressed as women and moved the story forward and actually much deeper.

In this new version when Jerry puts on a dress and a wig and declares himself Daphne, he becomes they and discovers a new part of themselves, a part he really love. Jerry/Daphne is played by J. Harrison Ghee and in this version, Sugar Kane is a Black woman battling Black racism and sexism, and she attempts to sing her way to stardom. She's played by SIX star, Adrianna Hicks. With the bluesy new score from the creators of Hairspray, showstopping tap numbers, and a sharp and empathetic new book, Some Like It Hot is a rollicking celebration of embracing your true self. Let's listen to these lyrics from the original song, Some Like It Hot.

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if you've a yen for egg foo yung

Mine's guaranteed to burn your tongue

Some like it hot and hot is what I got for you

If everybody was the same, well

Life would be a bore

If Manny goes with Sammy, hell

That's what he's yearning for

Let different rhythms move your seat

For I have often found

We all dance to a different beat

And that's what makes the world go round

Alison: Join us to the [unintelligible 00:02:17] which is running now at the Shubert Theater, the very shiny spangly show, by the way, is Adrianna Hicks. Hi Adrianna.

Adrianna Hicks: Hi, hello.

Alison: And J. Harrison and Ghee. Hi, J?

1. Harrison Ghee: Hi, Alison.

Alison: First of all, I saw the show last night, and it is so pretty, and so spangly, and so joyous. I just had to say that out loud to set the stage for the conversation. Adrianna, what do you think is the value of restaging a story like this because I think the original for some folks, especially some Gen Z folks, it would just not fly today.

Adrianna: Yes, I agree and it's a good thing because we have a show now that we're shaping and molding a new perspective of a lot of topics, which is really, really wonderful for this day and age, I think and I think it's fun. It's a good easy way to get in, to get in another person's perspective on life, as well as love and identity and knowing that you can be whoever you want to be in this world. I love that about every single character in the show because we are fully 100% authentic, which Generation Z I love that about them. They're like, "We are not going to take anything and we are who we are," which is basically the message of this show. I love that a lot.

Alison: J, you told Vogue that in your daily life that you often wear dresses, you use, they/them pronouns. What kind of questions did you have J for the creative team before signing on?

J: It was something that has been our running motto of just being true and authentic. Making sure that we weren't relying on old tropes, that it wasn't just doing this for the sake of using the name of some like Aha and what people knew it to be. Making sure that we were putting in the work and the effort to bring it forward and to make it relatable to today's audience. I do everything in life with intention, purpose, and love, and so that's how we approach the work, and happy to have created the product that we have today.

Alison: It's interesting because it is a very modern in that sensibility, but then it also has so much of the good old-fashioned, big musical energy to it. This idea of big tap numbers, and gorgeous costumes, and lighting that is beyond, beyond. Adrianna, I'm curious about-- I think most theater kids-- those of us who were theater kids when were little, that's the kind of show you grew up on and you sort of dream in being in. What is it like to be in one of these take the good old-fashioned stuff, the good parts of the old-fashioned musicals?

Adrianna: Oh, it's truly a dream because in a lot of ways it has stretched me to know how multifaceted I am. I've never really sung this type of music in any other musical that I've been a part of throughout my career. What an amazing experience to get to wear the costumes by the brilliant Gregg Barnes, and get to sing the classic golden age and musical theater music that was shaped so well by Scott and Mark. They have done a beautiful job of executing that for this day and age while giving that classic feel that it's refreshing to hear and to see every day.

Alison: J when Jerry and Joe come on stage, they're a team, and the script it navigates race very authentically. Jerry's Black and a white club owner won't book him-- a white booker won't book him into the club. Instead of going to the dark place in that, it's a moment where you really get to see this bond between Jerry and Joe with a really funny and touching song is You Can't Have Me (If You Don't Have Him). J, why do you think that song's important to us as the audience, for the audience to invest in these two people?

J: Oh, it's so important to lay that foundation of this is a relationship that is so true and is so loving and is so supportive. Like every relationship has its ups and downs and we've learned each other as human beings and loved each other and created this brotherhood that we hold dear. We are determined to show the world that you may not see us as brothers, but we are a thing that is bonded and we do this together. You don't get me without him. That's just how we operate through the ups and the downs, and this journey we go on together really does show and prove that too.

Alison: What's something that you have learned from your partner, Christian Borle, who's a Broadway veteran? He's so funny in this too, and you have really great chemistry, the two of you.

J: I learned something from that human being every day, truly. One of the biggest things is trust. We trust each other so innately. We really can look at each other without saying a word and understand how we feel, and understand the direction and the vibe we're bringing to the work every day. We're able to keep it fresh with each other and really continue to have fun.

Alison: Let's take a listen to a bit of a performance of you with alongside Christian Borle from Late Night With Seth Meyers of You Can't Have Me (If You Don't Have Him) from Some Like It Hot.

The gangster kids all knocked me down and made off with my lunch

Cause I was taught to buck-and-wing, not to land a punch

Then Joe here had a brainstorm when he saw I couldn't fight

I played the odds against him

And we ate ice cream every night

Yeah, he's the bait, and I'm the hook

I'm the goose, and he's the cook

He's the beans

And he's the gas

I'm the balls

And I'm the brass

You can't break up a winning team

Like that crutch and Tiny Tim

And, say, you can't have "ahh" without the Choo!

And you can't have me if you don't have him

Yes, I'm the third, and he's the root

That's the place our course began

We're two of a kind

If you're color blind

Separate mothers, but we're brothers under the skin

Alison: That is for Some Like It Hot. My guests are Adrianna Hicks, she plays Sugar Kane, and J. Harrison Ghee, they play Daphne and Jerry. As we heard in there, tap dancing, a lot of tap dancing. Adrian, were you a tap dancer before the show?

Adrianna: I've only had training through college through my amazing teacher, Lynn Kramer. I would have considered myself a tap dancer per se, but I can move a little bit. I love the fact that I'm able to exercise that little hidden talent. Every time I do it, everyone's like, "We didn't know you could tap dance." I was like, "Yes, me neither." No, it's been fun. I love the dancing a lot.

Alison: J, how about for you? What was your experience with tap?

J: Very similar. It's so full circle for me in the way of, my first production I ever did in high school was The Wiz and I played the Tin Man, and I had not taken a tap class at that time. I shuffled around in some old dress shoes I spray painted and my brother was gagged then, but then he got to see me opening night and I was like, "No, now I'm really tap dancing." It's exciting to rise to the occasion and take on the challenge of doing this incredible choreography from Casey Nicholaw.

Alison: Adrianna, when we first meet Sugar, what is it that she really wants out of life?

Adrianna: Oh my goodness. I think Sugar wants what everybody wants, what every human being wants to encounter. She wants love, she wants to have a sense of being known while knowing others. I love that so much about her because she's a dreamer. She goes after what she desires, and she hopes that the journey that she goes on is going to better her life. Making decisions along the way she understands her consequences of that, but she's willing to take risks and to walk out on faith, which I appreciate that about her so much.

Alison: What decision did you make about watching the original with Marilyn Monroe-- Adrianna. Once you got the part, did you go back and watch it again, or did you decide, you know what, I'm just moving forward with this version of Sugar Kane?

Adrianna: It's interesting because when I first started this journey of Some Like It Hot, I didn't really know the movie very well. I just heard about it and knew that it was a staple for Marilyn Monroe. I didn't watch it until actually I started the process and I haven't watched it since. That's in large part due to our amazing director Casey Nicholaw, because I'll never forget what he told me. He said, "Adrianna, we don't desire for you to portray Marilyn. We just want you to be you. Even though she is the blueprint for this show, in a sense because she was the original Sugar, she made up the name, the trademark for her, we still want you to be you."

With that, that just opened up my world to freedom. I didn't even know what I was going to experience while paying some acknowledgement to the work that she did in her fashion, in her sensuality, in her womanhood. I believe those are the things that I picked up from her mostly, and how genuine she was. She was just very genuine and did what she could on screen and tried to be better with everything that she did. I can say those are the things that I picked up on mostly with her.

Alison: J, in the beginning, Joe decides that once they've witnessed this murder, and they're going to run and they're going to dress as women. Joe says, "I'll be Josephine and Jerry should be Geraldine," but that in a moment, and it's just a really special moment in the show that when asked name Jerry says, "Daphne." It just falls right out of their mouth very easily, and joyously actually. What does Jerry start to realize as soon as the word Daphne comes out?

J: That I have my own voice, that I am in control of my journey. Again, we start as this duo, and we are this thing and have always operated as that, and then we go to save our lives and on the run. In this moment, Jerry feels like I can speak up for myself, I can find my own freedom. That starts the spark of the joy of Daphne and the journey of exploration and expansion.

Alison: You have this great number in the second act, you could have knocked me over with a feather, which really just everybody's there with you during that performance. It's about Jerry/Daphne's awakening and just embracing of herself, themself. When you think about Daphne's mind, what's going on with Daphne in that moment? What is going on with Daphne?

J: So many things. It's the surprise of coming into this fullness and stepping beyond limits and labels that have been placed on Jerry and Daphne and really finding newness. It's something I'm excited to be able to share with audiences every day. I feel like there's a little Daphne in everybody, a motto I live by is you have to free yourself to see yourself. You have to give yourself that permission to be who you are, to live out loud and not seek that from others. That's what I hope that Daphne inspires in audience members and that they take away the joy, and the pride, and the love.

Alison: Have y'all had anybody talk back to you during that point? I was fully waiting for it.

J: During the show?

Alison: Yes.

J: No, but the love of the audience is-- one of my favorite moments from opening night, I had clocked that Matthew Morrison was in the front row and could have knocked me over with a feather, and the show blacks out and I ride the bed off. In the darkness I just heard him go, "Hmm." That said everything to me, and again is one of my favorite moments from that night. Even from one of our security guys Leon at the door, he got to watch the show opening night and said he was sitting next to a cisgender white man, and he was with some woman, and he said, "I did that number and finished." He turned to who he was with and said, "I just need to treat my son better."

Alison: Oh, my. Oh, my. Those are the stories you'd love with theory it changes a life.

J: That's what I hope to affect in people. I hope to expand their way of thinking and that they leave a little different than when they came. That speaks to me. Those are the moments that I live for and hope for.

Alison: We're talking about Some Like It Hot playing now at the Schubert Theater. My guests are Adrianna Hicks, she's playing Sugar Kane, and J. Harrison Ghee they are playing Daphne and Jerry. The music, let's talk about the music a little bit. It was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, people know him from Hairspray. They have some of these original great jazzy songs. Let's listen to a little bit of Adrianna sing, Sugar Kane, singing a Darker Shade of Blue, and then we can talk about it on the other side. This is from Some Like It Hot.

Keep the music playin’ from the heart and understand

Cuz life’s a long, hard road, yeah

But it’s better with a band

And when a saxophone starts wellin’, I pray someone lends a hand

Before he breaks my achin’ heart in two

The lessons I keep learning

Is like the brass keeps burning

To keep a night from turning to a darker shade of blue

I feel compelled to applaud. It's just me in the studio, but I'm going to do it anyway. Adrianna, in your Instagram post you wrote about, you said, Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman know how to write a song, y'all.

Adrianna: Oh, yes.

Alison: What do you admire about the songwriting?

Adrianna: Oh, my goodness, the nuances of it all because it's wonderful to be a part of a show where we have, oh my gosh, over an 18-piece orchestra playing with us. It's incredible, where nowadays where a lot of musicals we have the synthesizer, or we have things that make up for the violins or whatever, but we actually have string instruments, we actually have trumpets, we actually have saxophones. That's what I love about it so much because their writing is so intricately woven together to give you that experience of classic theater, classic musical theater, classic Hollywood, and getting to sing that every single night, to immerse myself in every nuance of each instrument just really takes me there. I love it so much.

Alison: J, your Daphne's love interest is this millionaire Osgood. In this show, the actor is both hilarious, but also the relationship becomes so sincere and layered, just want to give a little shout-out to the actor who plays Osgood. What is it that you admire about that performance?

J: Kevin Del Aguila is a dream. Truly I enjoy finding love with him every night. He delivers one of my favorite lines from the show saying, "The world reacts to what it sees." In my experience, the world doesn't have very good eyesight. Feeling the audience receive that line every night is one of the most beautiful moments, and it's also one of the moments for me as Daphne in that moment where I switch and see Osgood as a different person. I take the judgment, I even placed on him in a different way and I'm like, ah, I'm learning in this moment. He really does earnestly crack me open every night, and helps my journey as an artist, and is so just charming and sweet and just a goofball.

Alison: [chuckles] I don't want to give away the depth they give it to his character, but I do want to comment on how wonderfully wacky the part is. Wacky with warmth. I say that with great warmth, but there's some wacky dancing. [laughs]

J: Oh, yes. We've had people say that his movement is the personification of joy. You watch a move and you cannot help but smile.

Alison: The costumes in the show are really stunning. Adrianna, what's your favorite one to wear? Which one just makes you have all the feels?

Adrianna Hicks: Oh, my goodness. Now, that's a tough question because each one has a special place in my heart. I do have to say it's probably a shock to a lot of people, but there is a costume change that I have and taken up a step where I wear this lime green version of my original, darker shade of blue costume. I love that step up in the show because it's just I love the color, I love the vibrancy of it. I think it's just a reflection of Sugar's heart, and I get to sing one of my favorite songs in the show. In that outfit, I love it a lot. It's between that and also the white jumpsuit that I have worn when I go to California that one is-- I wish I had that in my closet today.

[laughter]

Alison: J, how about for you?

J: They're also impeccable. Gregg Barnes, the care he takes with every actor, every artist to curate these costumes its fulfilling and beautiful. What I have the most joy getting into my finale costume, they showed me just a swatch of the beating that was going to be on my lapels and I burst into tears. The way it caught light, the way it just encapsulated the fullness of my character and the journey. I just feel so alive in my finale costume.

Alison: The show looks great, the show sounds great. It's Some Like It Hot at the Shubert Theater. My guests have been Adrianna Hicks and J. Harrison Ghee. Thank you for making time today.

Adrianna: Thank you so much.

J: Thank you for having us.

 

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