[music]

Alison Stewart: You are listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart and to close out today's show of Tony nominees, we're going to hear from the stars of the new musical adaptation of the classic 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot. The musical has garnered a total of 13 Tony nominations, more than any other show under consideration this season, including best musical, best direction, best book, and best original score. Plus two nominations for each of the lead actors, including J. Harrison Ghee, who we'll hear from in a minute.

The musical 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 Their Eyes, singer Sugar Kane, one of Marilyn Monroe's most famous parts. The Broadway musical, with a new book from Amber Ruffin and Matthew Lopez, has moved beyond the ancient sight gag of men dressed as women and moved the story forward and actually deeper.

In this new version, when Jerry puts on a dress and wig and declares himself Daphne, he becomes "they" and discovers a new part of themselves, a part they really love. Jerry/Daphne is played by J. Harrison Ghee. In this version, Sugar Kane is a Black woman batting back racism and sexism as she attempts to sing her way to stardom. She's played by Six star Adrianna Hicks with a 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. Just listen to these lyrics from the new original song, Some Like It Hot.

[music- Marilyn Monroe Some Like It Hot]

But if you've a yen for Egg Foo Young

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 yearnin’ 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 Stewart: Some Like It Hot is running now at the Shubert Theater. Adrianna Hicks and J. Harrison Ghee were our guests.

[music- Some Like It Hot]

First of all, I saw the show 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 in 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 Hicks: 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 wonderful for this day and age, I think. 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 the show. I love that a lot.

Alison Stewart: 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. Harrison Ghee: 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 It Hot and what people knew it to be, but 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. That's how we approach the work and happy to have created the product that we have today.

Alison Stewart: It's interesting because it is 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, like, big tap numbers and gorgeous costumes and lighting that is beyond, beyond. Adrianna, I'm curious about I think most theater kids saw those Westover Theater kids when we were little. That's the kind of show you grew up on and you sort of dream and being in. What is it like to be in one of these take the good old-fashioned stuff, the good parts of old-fashioned musicals?

Adrianna Hicks: 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 Greg Barnes and get to sing the classic golden age musical theater music that was shaped so well by Scott and Marc. 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 Stewart: 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 we 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 is important to us as the audience for the audience to invest in these two people?

J. Harrison Ghee: 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 and is like every relationship has its ups and downs. 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 and that's just how we operate through the ups and the downs. This journey we go on together really does show improve that too.

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

[music- J. Harrison Ghee, Christian Borle, You Can't Have Me if You Don't Have Him]

The gangster kids all knocked me down

And made off with my lunch

‘Cause I was taught to buck and wing

But not to learn to punch!

But 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 bulls — and I’m the brass

You can’t break up a winning team

Like that crutch and Tiny Tim!

They say you can’t have a ball without the shoe

And you can’t have me if you don’t have him!

Oh, when we play, it’s just a fact

Our music fills the air

It’s true that opposites attract

And so we make a perfect pair!

‘Cause I’m the third, and he’s the root

That’s the place all chords begin

We’re two of a kind, if you’re color blind

Separate mothers but we’re brothers

Under the skin!

Alison Stewart: That is from 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. Adrianna, were you a tap dancer before the show?

Adrianna Hicks: I've only had training through college through my amazing teacher Lynn Kramer, and I wouldn't 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." [laughter] No, but it's been fun. I love the dancing a lot.

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

J. Harrison Ghee: 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. 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 Stewart: Adriana, when we first meet Sugar, what is it that she really wants out of life?

Adrianna Hicks: 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 Stewart: 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 Hicks: 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 that I was going to experience while paying some sort of acknowledgment 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've picked up on mostly with her.

Alison Stewart: J, in the beginning, Joe decides that once they've witnessed this murder, and they're going to go, they're going to run, and they're going to dress as women, Joe says, "Okay, I'll be Josephine and Jerry, you 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 and 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. Harrison Ghee: 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," and that starts the spark of the joy of Daphne and the journey of exploration and expansion.

Alison Stewart: You have this great number in the second act, You Coulda 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 themself. When you think about Daphne's mind, what's going on with Daphne in that moment? What is going on with Daphne?

J. Harrison Ghee: 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. Really finding newness and 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 then they take away the joy and the pride and the love.

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

J. Harrison Ghee: During the show?

Alison Stewart: Yes.

J. Harrison Ghee: No, but the love of the audience is-- [laughter] One of my favorite moments from opening night, I had clocked that Matthew Morrison was in the front row. I did You Coulda Knocked Me Over With and the show blacks out and I ride the bed off. In the darkness, I just heard him go, "Mm." [laughter] That said everything to me and again, it's 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.

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 Stewart: Oh my. Oh my. Those are stories you'd love when theater changes a life.

J. Harrison Ghee: Yes, 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 Stewart: We're talking about Some Like It Hot playing now at the Shubert 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 was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, people know him from Hairspray. They have some of these original great jazzy songs. Let's listen to a little bit of Adrianna sing as 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.

[Music - Adrianna Hicks: A Darker Shade Of Blue]

Keep the music playing

From the heart and on the stand

‘Cause life’s a long hard road, yeah

But it’s better with a band!

And when a saxophone starts wailing

I pray someone lends a hand

Before he breaks my aching heart in two

The lesson I keep learnin'

Is let the brass keep burnin'

To keep the night from turnin'

To a darker shade of blue!

Alison Stewart: I feel compelled to applaud. [laughs] [claps] 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 Wittman know how to write a song y'all."

Adrianna Hicks: Oh yes.

Alison Stewart: What do you admire about the songwriting?

Adrianna Hicks: 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 a synthesizer or we have things that make up for the violin 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.

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 Stewart: That was my conversation with Adrianna Hicks and J. Harrison Ghee who has been nominated for the Best Lead Actor at this year's Tony Awards. They are the stars of the Broadway musical, Some Like It Hot. The Tony Awards will be handed out in just about two weeks on June 11th. That is All Of It. All Of It is produced by Andrea Duncan-Mao, Kate Hynes, Jordan Lauf, Simon Close, Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, L. Malik Anderson, and Luke Green. Megan Ryan is the head of live radio our engineers are Juliana Fonda and Jason Isaac. Luscious Jackson does our music.

If you missed any segments this week, catch up by listening to our podcast available on your podcast platform of choice. If you like what you hear, please leave us a great rating. It helps people find the show. I'm Alison Stewart, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time.

 

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