Broadway Backstory Newsletter
Dear Seaso y
Broadway Comes to Reno is pleased to present Some Like It Hot, a new Broadway musical based on the classic American film. We are midway through our 30th Anniversary Season, and the hits keep coming. Reno is lucky to be among the first cities to experience this award-winning song-and-dance spectacular on its First National Tour.
The Broadway Backstory Newsletter is created by the Pioneer Center to help you learn more about the shows in our Broadway Comes to Reno series. Below you will find information on the history and creators of the show as well as website links [in blue] to videos and articles. Don’t forget to forward this email to the other Broadway lovers in your party.
Your tickets to Some Like It Hot were emailed to you as a PDF attachment on January 21st. Look for the subject line “Confirmation of Order Number.” We look forward to seeing you at the Pioneer Center soon!
Get the backstory on the Broadway’s Some Like It Hot
The source material for the musical is the iconic 1959 feature film of the same title starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, which itself was based on a 1935 French film titled Fanfare of Love Directed, written, and produced by Billy Wilder, the Hollywood film from 1959 received 6 Academy Award nominations. A Broadway musical adaptation, Sugar, opened in 1972 starring Robert Morse and Tony Roberts, but is very rarely produced today. This current Broadway production is not otherwise related to the first musical version beyond sharing the same source material.
When this new musical production of Some Like It Hot was conceived, the material was re-imagined for a contemporary audience. The book of the musical was adapted by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin. López is best known for Broadway’s The Inheritance (Tony winner) and the Amazon Studios film Red, White, & Royal Blue. Ruffin is a writer/comedian best known for Peacock’s The Amber Ruffin Show.
The music is by Marc Shaiman, known for iconic film scores like Beaches, The Addams Family, and Sister Act, as well as Broadway’s Hairspray. Lyrics are by Shaiman and husband Scott Wittman, whose credits include Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, and Smash.
Casey Nicholaw is the director and choreographer of Some Like It Hot. His credits include The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls, The Prom, and Monty Python’s Spamalot.
The musical was due to have its out-of-town tryout in Chicago in 2020, but that plan was thwarted due to the coronavirus pandemic and theater shutdown. Some Like It Hot debuted on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on December 11, 2022. It was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning 4 of them including Best Choreography and Costume Design It also won 7 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical. Some Like It Hot ran on Broadway for just over one year, closing on December 30, 2023.
Scenic design is by Scott Pask (The Book of Mormon, Waitress, Shucked), with lighting by Natasha Katz (Beauty & the Beast, Once, Hell’s Kitchen), costumes by Gregg Barnes (Kinky Boots, Mean Girls), sound by Brian Ronan (Beautiful, Mrs. Doubtfire), and wigs by Josh Marquette (Cirque du Soleil).
A new production for London’s West End is slated for some time in 2025 to be announced.
The First National Tour playing the Pioneer Center opened on September 17, 2024, and has played a handful of cities including Chicago, Miami, and San Francisco just prior to making its Nevada debut here in Reno. This tour will continue to St. Louis, Memphis, Philadelphia, Denver, Hartford, Dallas, and Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre, among other stops.
