'Sugar' far less sweet than beloved film version
On paper, "Sugar" sounds promising. This 1972 Broadway musical adaptation of the 1959 film comedy "Some Like it Hot" features a score by "Funny Girl" collaborators Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, plus a script by Tony Award-winner Peter Stone.
And with hit director/choreographer Jim Corti ("Sweet Charity," "Cabaret") helming a new production of "Sugar" at Drury Lane Oakbrook, hopes are high that this seldom-seen show might be revealed as a neglected musical comedy gem.
Alas, "Sugar" fails to satisfy. Like so many recent screen-to-stage Broadway musical adaptations, "Sugar" in no way improves upon or displaces the memory of the original.
Styne and Merrill's score is uneven and many songs hold up the dramatic action. Stone's script is funny, but that's mainly because it parrots large swathes of the original screenplay by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond without contributing significant new material.
"Sugar" follows the exploits of two out-of-work Chicago musicians in 1929 who unwittingly witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. With the mafia in pursuit, the guys disguise themselves as women and join the all-girl band Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopaters for a Florida engagement. Hilarity ensues when both of the men make romantic plays at the band's ditsy lead singer, Sugar Kane, and when gangster Spats Palazzo (Norm Bucher) and his entourage arrive at the same resort.
Corti and company at Drury Lane attempt to make a solid go at "Sugar" by dressing the show up in wonderful period costumes by Melissa Tochia and a jazzy on-and-offstage band conducted by Ben Johnson. But there's no escaping the fact that "Sugar" is second-best material.
Corti's main staging concept of setting "Sugar" in a film studio soundstage also proves to be a major miscalculation. All those stage hands dressed as film studio technicians adjusting designer Brian Sidney Bembridge's handsome scenery and lighting equipment serve as constant visual reminders of the superiority of the original film.
Aside from this conceptual misstep, Corti does a fine job at staging the show with his ensemble in flashy production numbers and working with his lead actors, some of whom perform very well while others leave you slightly wanting.
As the title character, Jennifer Knox has the unenviable task of playing one of screen legend Marilyn Monroe's most iconic film roles. Knox gets points for not just handing in a Monroe impersonation, but there's a spark and vivaciousness that is missing from her performance as a fragile woman who is desired by practically every man she meets.
Of the guys in girl get-ups, Alan Schmuckler in the Jack Lemmon role of Jerry/Daphne is hands down the funnier of the two (and the more believable woman). The ever excitable Schmuckler can send the audience into torrents of laughter with his big bathing beauty gestures or the perfectly timed darting of his blue eyes.
In the Tony Curtis role of Joe/Josephine, Rod Thomas has the leading man looks and demeanor, though I would have liked some more eccentricity from his phony oil magnate who aims to seduce Sugar aboard a yacht.
More eccentricity also would have helped Joe D. Lauck's rather bland take on the much-married millionaire Osgood Fielding, Jr., who has his eye on Daphne/Jerry. In the minor parts of girl band conductor Sweet Sue and band manager Bienstock, Tammy Mader and Stef Tovar are overqualified for their roles.
Why the artistic forces of Drury Lane settled on producing a subpar show like "Sugar" is puzzling. Perhaps it was the attraction of "Sugar's" 1920s gangland Chicago milieu. Or the inevitable laughs that come when men dress up as women.
Either way, Drury Lane's "Sugar" does deliver some laughs. But this splashy show saddled with a weak script and score ultimately leaves an unsatisfying taste in your mouth.
<p class="factboxheadblack">"Sugar" </p>
<p class="News">★ ★ ½</p>
<p class="News"><b>Location:</b> Drury Lane Oak Brook, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace; (630) 530-0111 or <a href="http://drurylaneoakbrook.com" target="new">drurylaneoakbrook.com</a></p>
<p class="News"><b>Showtimes:</b> Now through Sunday, Aug. 1. Shows are at 1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 1:30 and 8 p.m. Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. Fridays, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 6 p.m. Sundays.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Running time:</b> Two hours with intermission</p>
<p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $31-$45; lunch and dinner packages available. Discounts available at select performances for seniors and students.</p>
<p class="News"><b>Parking:</b> Nearby parking garage available</p>
<p class="News"><b>Rating:</b> For general audiences</p>