Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (‘Some Like it Hot’ composers) on creating an MGM-sounding score [Exclusive Video Interview]

Sam Eckmann
Updated ·4 min read

“Our characters are wrestling with very contemporary situations,” explains Scott Wittman of the musical “Some Like it Hot.” He and Marc Shaiman are the Tony-winning songwriting duo behind the score. The pair was adamant that their tunes be used to expand and reinvent the characters for this stage adaptation, rather than simply copy what viewers would expect from the classic movie. Watch the exclusive video interview above.

When it comes to the overall musical style of the show, Shaiman exclaims ”I just took an MGM view of it all.” He explains that the classic MGM films from the 1920s, 30s and 40s all contain a similar sound full of big band and strings. ”I just wanted to make use of all the great sounds of really, almost 3 decades worth of swing and elegant, romantic, joyous music,” describes the composer. So the score was taken out of the flapper era found in the movie, with its broader aural scope incorporating sounds that one would hear from artists like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

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Those sounds were especially important for the pair’s take on their leading lady, Sugar. “We tried to move it as far away from Marilyn as possible,” explains Wittman, of course referring to the star of the film Marilyn Monroe. On stage, Sugar is played by Adrianna Hicks, and is introduced with a jazz-infused torch song. Monroe sings a high energy flapper tune in her first scene during the film, but Wittman wondered “couldn’t it be more like how you meet Judy Garland in A Star is Born?” So Hicks pours out the soulful ballad “Darker Shade of Blue,” and saves her uptempo “survival song” for her big number near the show’s finale. “We played with the DNA,” notes Shaiman, in order to make their version of Sugar a complex figure and “less of a doormat.”

Daphne, here played by J. Harrison Ghee, is also re-envisioned for the stage. When they dress as a woman to evade the mob, Daphne realizes that they feel more comfortable in their feminine self than they ever did as a man. “We wanted it to be a joyous experience for the character because the character is on the way to discover something about themself,” states Wittman. His creative partner Shaiman points out that audiences could read this type of subtext in the film as well. “In the movie, it’s already kind of there,” he admits, “Jack Lemmon totally enjoys being a woman in it, and doesn’t flinch when Osgood proposes.” So the duo pushed that concept further, with Daphne learning more about their gender identity.

This gradual process of acceptance bursts forth in a showstopper titled “You Coulda Knocked Me Over With a Feather.” In trying to find the right tone for the song, they latched onto Vivan Reed’s rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown” from the musical revue “Bubbling Brown Sugar.” It’s a slinky, slowed down jazz arrangement that builds into an explosion of emotion. “That one really flowed out of us,” says Shaiman before praising Wittman’s skill with words. “Scott is the king of titles,” he muses, noting the perfect combination of masculine and feminine imagery in the lyrics, “what a brilliant metaphor.”

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Travel by train is a major plot point of “Some Like it Hot,” but to this songwriting team, the train is also a metaphor for the journey every character experiences in the musical. “By the end of this journey,” says Wittman, “everyone has learned something about themselves and their own identity that they didn’t know when they started the show.”

Shaiman and Wittman won the Tony Award for their score to “Hairspray.” Shaiman earned an additional Tony nomination for his orchestrations to “Catch Me if You Can.” He is a seven-time Oscar nominee for his scores to “An American President,” “First Wives Club,” “Patch Adams,” and “Mary Poppins Returns,” and original songs for “Sleepless in Seattle,” “South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut,” and “Mary Poppins Returns.” Wittman was Oscar-nominated alongside Shaiman for the latter film, for the pair’s song “The Place Where Lost Things Go.”

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