Television host and comedian Amber Ruffin has joined the creative team of the Broadway musical “Some Like It Hot.”
Ruffin, host of an eponymous show on Peacock, will work with “The Inheritance” playwright Matthew López to write the book for the musical adaptation. Kenny Leon (director of “American Son,” “A Soldier’s Play”) has joined as a co-producer, alongside producers Bob Wankel and Neil Meron.
The musical will begin performances on Broadway in 2022, according to the press release. “Some Like It Hot” had previously been rescheduled for fall 2021.
The musical is an adaptation of a 1959 MGM film, which starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, in which two male musicians are forced to flee the city and disguise themselves as women in an all-female band after they witness a murder. A key change in this adaptation is that Sugar, played in the film by Monroe, will be written as a Black character.
“As a queer BIPOC writer, it is an exciting proposition to create a show with characters whose race is instrumental (and not incidental) to the story,” Lopez said. “It became apparent to me that if we were to honor our commitment to tell that story with honesty and integrity, it required a Black creative voice on the team. It didn’t take long for all of us to agree that Amber was the person to approach.”
The adaptation features direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
“I am so thrilled to be working with real Broadway legends Matthew López, Casey Nicholaw, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman on this honestly groundbreaking project,” Ruffin said in a press release. “This is truly a different kind of musical and I can’t wait for people to see it!”
Before hosting and executive producing her own show, Ruffin was a writer and performer for “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and became the first African-American female to write for a late-night network talk show in the U.S.
Roy Furman, Robert Greenblatt and the Nederlander Organization are co-producers of the musical.
