Friday, November 25, 2022

SOME LIKE IT HOT on Tap

Early yesterday, I posted a piece about tap dancing. There's a lot of energetic tapping in the current original holiday musical, SPIRITED, streaming on Apple+TV. The hip twist on Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL stars Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. They tap dance too. The chorus tap dancers were dressed in rather unisex attire. I wrote that I missed seeing a feminine flair on a female who could match the men as dance partners. I posted four examples of what I meant using clips from classic movie musicals.

Then, later yesterday morning, I saw a number from Broadway's new musical version of SOME LIKE IT HOT and I was so delighted that I wished I was in New York to buy a ticket. A feminine flair was in the tap number! Even a man had a feminine flair as he played the bass fiddle.

If you've seen the classic Billy Wilder comedy that starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, you know the story. It's the 1920s. Lemmon and Curtis play best buddy musicians in Chicago who witness a mob murder on St. Valentine's Day. In order to keep from being killed by the head gangster, they disguise as dames, join an all-girl band and head to Florida for a gig with the girls. Then they see the gorgeous and delectable band singer, Sugar Kane (played by Monroe). They'd love to woo her but they're disguised as dames to save their lives. The leader of the band, Sweet Sue, is strict and suspicious.

The new Broadway musical version is in previews and opens soon. Friends of mine who have seen it, rave about it. Natasha Yvette Williams is Sweet Sue and Adrianna Hicks is Sugar. Here's the number done for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.


Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout. This show looks like it's gonna be a Broadway hit.

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