Casey Nicholaw (‘Some Like it Hot’ director) on crafting an epic chase sequence: ‘It was seriously like Tetris’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Sam Eckmann
Updated ·4 min read
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“We just knew we wanted it to feel contemporary,” explains Casey Nicholaw of his new musical “Some Like it Hot.” Although the show is adapted from the classic film of the same name, there are bold new choices made on stage which help today’s audiences relate to the material. Nicholaw directs and choreographs the big, brassy, song-and-dance fest now playing at the Shubert Theatre. ”I think it’s a modern take on a classic film,” says Nicholaw. Watch the exclusive video interview.

One of the main tasks with this adaptation was to reinvent the core characters. As Daphne (played by J. Harrison Ghee) begins to live as a woman to hide their true identity, the character realizes that they feel more like themself as a woman. Nicholaw describes the desire to create a “slow burn” for Daphne’s journey of self discovery, so that the audience can “see it through Daphne’s eyes at the same time” as the character.

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Even Sugar, the part made famous by Marilyn Monroe on film, gets a redo. “We always thought of Sugar as being a little bit broken,” explains Nicholaw. She drinks too much, has issues with men, and big dreams of being a star. The director introduces this new Sugar with a powerful, blues-tinged torch song, which allows star Adrianne Hicks to telegraph a deeper longing that exists within the character. According to Nicholaw, the roles on stage are drawn a “little more deeply” because they aren’t based on the personalities of iconic movie stars.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Casey Nicholaw musical without a slew of high energy, joyous dance numbers. His latest showstopper is an epic chase sequence, staged as a tap dance, where gangsters chase Josephine (Christian Borle) and Daphne through the halls of a hotel. A series of near misses by way of slammed doors and distractions put his highly specific choreography front and center. While rehearsing a developmental lab for the musical, Nichlow used the majority of the time to stage this highly complex number. “I set the show in three weeks and then the last week I set aside just to do that number,” he reveals. “It’s sort of an ambitious thing to do, to try to tie up all of the loose ends in a show in a dance number.” It was no easy feat, and one that kept him lying in bed at night as new pieces of choreography filled his head as the scene and music changed. “It was seriously like Tetris,” he admits.

Nichlow recently got into costume and stepped into that game of Tetris. When several actors called out and there were not enough understudies to cover each role, Nicholaw agreed to fill in as gangster Spats so that the show could go on. “It was the first time I’ve said lines in 20 years on stage. And it was really scary,” he admits. The last time he performed on Broadway was in the ensemble of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Despite only learning about the surprise gig the night prior, he was able to get off-book for his lines (well, except for one scene where he had a few taped to the back of a newspaper) and says “It ended up being really really fun” because of the support of all of the actors.

So is Nicholaw inspired to hang up his director hat and transition back to the life of an actor? “Nope!” he exclaims with a laugh, “I feel so much more in my skin [as a director] than I did as a performer.”

Nicholaw is an 11-time Tony nominee, winning a Tony for his direction of “The Book of Mormon.” He received additional directing nominations for “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “Something Rotten!,” “Mean Girls,” and “The Prom.” He earned choreography nominations for “Spamalot,” “The Drowsy Chaperone,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Aladdin,” “Something Rotten!” and “Mean Girls.”

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