Visiting the Liberty Bell last week, Tarra Conner Jones couldn’t help but sing “I Can Hear the Bells” from Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s 2002 musical adaptation of John Waters’ movie “Hairspray.”
“That CD lives rent free in my head,” says Conner Jones of the musical’s cast recording.
Fittingly, Conner Jones is currently starring as Sweet Sue in the national Broadway tour of another Shaiman and Wittman musical: “Some Like It Hot.” That tour comes to the Altria Theater on June 3.
“There are so many greats that have their stamp on this production,” says Conner Jones, reached by phone while on tour in Philadelphia, of her own show. “That is what gives it the fairy dust, the razzle dazzle.”
Based on the 1959 Billy Wilder film of the same name that starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, “Some Like It Hot” relates the story of Joe and Jerry, two jazz musicians who accidentally witness a Chicago mob hit during Prohibition. Fleeing for their lives, Joe and Jerry take the only gig they can get — traveling with an all-female band headed out of town. The duo swap their suits for slips and embark on a gender-bending drag adventure.
After arriving in Miami — or California in the musical version — Joe and Jerry must contend with the amorous advances of millionaires, murderous hitmen and the fact that Joe is falling hard for Sugar Kane, the band’s singer. The original movie is considered one of the greatest films of all time.
Telling the same story — though revamped to feel contemporary (read: the film’s famous final punchline has been turned into a fully realized plotline) — this version blends the tropes of a classic Broadway musical with modern sensibilities.
“This is a beautiful update to the story that will hopefully allow people to leave knowing that everyone deserves to be their authentic self, and that they deserve to be loved and accepted,” says Conner Jones, who has been on the national Broadway tour for eight months. “We will have tap dancing, girls stripping, guys diving across the floor, huge band numbers, lots of singing, jokes galore.”
Conner Jones plays Sweet Sue, the stern but caring bandleader of Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, Joe, Jerry and Sugar’s band. The Syncopators’ next gig is their chance to hit the big time and Sweet Sue doesn’t want to miss her chance.
“Sweet Sue is a lot of the comic relief in the show. She is very firm, but very caring, and that is the delicate part of portraying Sweet Sue,” Conner Jones says. “I want the Syncopators to be good. This is my big break, my big gig.”
She says it’s evident why the show was nominated for 13 Tony Awards in the 2023 season, winning four, including best choreography.
“Our director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw just did a bang up job with the choreography with this one,” she says, comparing it to the Golden Age of Tap Dancing in the 1930s and 1940s. “It’s a feast for the eyes.”
Conner Jones notes that Gregg Barnes’ costumes also won a Tony, and that the show’s other visual elements are equally jaw dropping. “The costumes, the tap dancing, the scenery, the set — all of that just goes so well together to create the razzle dazzle,” she says.
Asked about the challenges of taking on this role, Conner Jones says the hardest part is adapting to being on the road. With so many different theater spaces — some with a great deal of stairs — it can be hard to adjust.
A weeklong engagement in Oklahoma City last year proved to be a particularly challenging affair.
“Every season that we know of happened in that week, including snow,” she says. “You’ve got to juggle that. You have to juggle allergy season — which we’re in the thick of — and tickly throats, and you still have to do your show.”
At a time of national and global political strife, Conner Jones says “Some Like It Hot” is a timely plea for compassion that drives its message home “with a dose of honey.”
“The times that we are living in, we need laughter as we’ve never needed laughter before in our country,” Conner Jones says. “We need to be reminded in our country to treat people as human regardless of their color, their race, their preferences, their pronouns — whatever those things are, we need to be reminded to treat people as humans, with love and respect.”
Broadway in Richmond’s “Some Like It Hot” plays June 3-8 at the Altria Theater, 6 N. Laurel St. For more information visit broadwayinrichmond.com.
