Some Like it Hot, Paramount Theater, Seattle

A very fun night at the theater! Some Like it Hot felt like a call back to the golden age of movie musicals from the 50s…not surprising since the show is from a movie from the 1960s. Big, fun, musical dance numbers. Lots of tap dancing; my feet were tired in sympathy just from watching. It’s 1933 Chicago. Joe and Jerry accidentally see a mob murder and are on the run. They disguise themselves as women and join an all female band headed to California. The risk with some shows based on older material is that it comes off dated. That didn’t happen here at all. The show was funny, so funny without relying on any sexist jokes. I haven’t seen the movie, but my take is that the slight updates that are in the show has do not com out of thin air; the movie left the door open for the changes. So they don’t feel forced and unnatural (which I have seen in other shows attempting to update older material.) While the songs aren’t super memorable, the big dance numbers are so fun and had the crowd laughing and clapping in their seats. There’s one number where the ladies are running from shooting gangsters that’s a choreographic hoot. Great start to the season at the Paramount.