‘We are Black. We are here’: Broadway brings modernized version of ‘Some Like It Hot’ to First Interstate Center for the Arts

For their role in “Some Like It Hot,” performer Tavis Kordell had to learn how to both talk the talk and walk the walk. More specifically, how to tap the tap.

The show’s setting in the 1930s meant lines like “Can it, wiseacre” were sprinkled throughout the text. Kordell’s role as nightclub musician Jerry also meant Kordell, who uses they/them pronouns, had to develop the basic tap skills they picked up in college to match cast members they call the cleanest tappers in the industry.

With context clues, and some extra tap classes, Kordell was able to figure out how to talk and tap the part and is now starring in the national tour of “Some Like It Hot.” The musical opens Tuesday and runs through Sept. 28 at the First Interstate Center for the Arts.

The musical features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman and a book by Matthew López and Amber Ruffin. It’s based on the 1959 film of the same name, which itself was based on a 1935 French film called “Fanfare of Love.”

The musical opens in 1933 Chicago, just before the end of Prohibition. Chicago speakeasy performer Sweet Sue (Dequina Moore) is arrested in a raid. After being bailed out, Sue decides to form an all-female band and tour around the country.

At the same time, Joe (Matt Loehr), the club’s saxophonist, and Jerry (Kordell), the bass player, are looking for a paycheck and reach out to Spats Colombo (Devon Goffman), a powerful gangster and the owner of the Cheetah Club.

Colombo’s hiring manager is impressed by the pair’s musical abilities but only wants to hire Joe who is white, not Jerry, who is Black. Through a tap dance routine, the pair explain they’re a package deal. Colombo is wowed by the pair’s tap dancing skills and hires them both.

Later that night, Colombo suspects he has been betrayed by one of his own and has two associates shot. Joe and Jerry witness the murders and flee, making their way to a women’s dressing room. There, Joe comes up with the plan to disguise themselves as women and join Sweet Sue’s band.

The pair meet up with the band at the train station the next morning and meet singer Sugar Cane (Leandra Ellis-Gaston). As the train heads to California, Joe and Jerry have varying feelings about life with their new identities, Josephine and Daphne.

The cast also features Edward Juvier, Matt Allen, Devon Hadsell, Ashley Marie Arnold, Kelly Berman, Ian Campayno, Devin Cortez, Darien Crago, Austin Dunn, Jonathan Duvelson, Adena Ershow, Drew Franklin, Tim Fuchs, Bryan Thomas Hunt, Emily Kelly, Madeline Kendall, Stephen Michael Langton, Ranease Ryann, Nissi Shalome, Michael Skrzek, Kelly Sheehan, Jamal Stone and Julia Yameen.

Kordell grew up singing in church, a combination of the preachers, pastors and other church titleholders on their father’s side of the family and musical talents on their mother’s side.

“You can imagine a family gathering for someone’s birthday, that’s going to be the most beautiful ‘Happy Birthday’ you’ll ever hear because everyone has a beautiful voice on my mother’s side of the family,” they said.

Kordell picked up a few instruments along the way, even acting as woodwind captain for their high school marching band.

During Kordell’s junior year, the school produced “Footloose.” Kordell went back and forth about auditioning until their math teacher, a fellow thespian, told them they needed to audition.

Kordell performed “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” at their audition and was cast in the leading role of Ren McCormack. While working on “Footloose,” Kordell became hooked on theater and decided to step away from marching band in order to give theater their full attention.

“(Marching band) was great, but theater fuels me and feeds me more,” they said. “Ever since that theater bug bit me around junior year, I’ve been stuck ever since.”

The bug led Kordell to study musical theater at the University of North Carolina and audition for, and make it to the semi-finals of, “America’s Got Talent” with their trio 1aChord.

The ink on their diploma was barely dry before they joined the “Some Like It Hot” national tour. Kordell had seen the musical on Broadway shortly before the tour was announced and knew right away that the show and, as a nonbinary performer, the role of Jerry and Daphne, was perfect for them.

Well, almost perfect.

Kordell’s role, and the show overall, requires a lot of tap dancing. They learned a handful of steps in college but knew they’d need to level up. Kordell knew some teachers in the industry and started taking classes.

Those classes, along with the musical ability from their mom’s side of the family, gave them a solid foundation when it came to the audition.

“Tap is one of those art forms, it’s rhythmic-based,” they said. “With that being said, if you have rhythm or if you have a sense of music and syncopations and sounds, it will come easier to you.”

In the film version of “Some Like It Hot,” much of the humor came from the mere fact that male performers were wearing dresses and makeup. The musical, which opened in 2022, flips the script, making that element part of the show but not the complete punchline.

For Kordell, working on a show that’s been updated for modern audiences has been very satisfying.

“Back then, it was pushing the norms a little bit even as the trope of men and dresses,” they said. “But today, we have people who are nonbinary, gender fluid, trans identities, and the butt of the jokes should not be men in dresses. As a nonbinary person, stepping into the role and seeing my identity uplifted and appreciated and understood and celebrated, it feels so, so, so good.”

“That’s one thing I say about our show is that we encompass that nostalgia of the ‘30s, that Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire feel of the ‘30s and ‘20s, but we also have those modern 21st century cultural sensibilities.”

Another update, and something that made Kordell fall for the Broadway production, was the fact that many of the lead roles are played by Black performers. In the film, Kordell’s role of Jerry/Daphne was played by Jack Lemmon; Marilyn Monroe originated the role of Sugar; and Joan Shawlee played Sweet Sue.

Jazz music and tap dance, both prominent elements of “Some Like It Hot,” are two languages African Americans have used throughout time, Kordell said. Other styles of dancing in the show, like the lindy hop, were also created by African Americans.

“It means everything because it shows representation and also shows that this is what was happening during the time,” they said. “We are tap dancing. We are Black. We are here. We are doing jazz music and it all goes together.”