Sugar (Some like it hot)

The musical Sugar! is one of the theatre classics of the Czech stage and I have to admit straight away that I hardly ever expect something new from its production. However, Brno´s production convincingly shows that theatre is still an inventive and surprising art form. Director Stanislav Moša used his own adaptation of the musical, which was originally created for a production in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is founded on a reduction of the number of characters to twenty actors and an effort to make the most of the potential of the original film ‘model’. It is also rightly assumed that the story of two musicians who accept an engagement in an all-girl band while trying to escape from gangsters is well known to the spectators.

The director chose a black and white artistic design which evokes old films but also the poetic atmosphere of classic inter-war comic-books. A speech bubble with the name of the title heroine hovers above Jaroslav Milfajt´s black and white stage with its drawn scenery by Petr Hloušek, and the chosen style is also supported by Andrea Kučerová´s costumes, which combine black and white in the form of stripes, dots and other variations. Of course, the acting conception is fundamental, consisting in comic-book-style exaggeration and making use of innovative parody. The arrival of the gang of criminals on the stage quickly changes into a tap dance number and the actors are sometimes also seconded by life-size drawn characters. Roman Vojtek, who is definitely the real star of the production, returned to the site of his first acting experience as Joe alias Josephine after some years. However, Petr Štěpán, who played the character in alternation, also cannot be forgotten, as he equipped the suitor in girl´s clothing with refined rationalism. The funny and crazy Jerry, otherwise known as the double bass player Daphne, is acted by Milan Němec and Aleš Slanina in alternation. Slanina´s performance in particular is one of those which shows the enjoyment of the role by the actor in all its aspects. And finally, Ivana Skálová and Mária Lalková alternate in the popular role of sweet Sugar who is the archetype of a charming but not very clever blonde.

Brno’s relatively long production, which lasts nearly three hours, is a well thought out show which doesn´t bore the spectators. This time, its success is due to the whole production team as well as the quality and skill of the orchestra, and of course the actors, who make full use of all the possibilities of this cross-dressing comedy.

Roman Vojtek (Joe and Josephine) and Milan Němec (Jerry and Daphne) excel in Moša´s Brno production of Sugar! Mária Lalková´s performance in the role of charming young Sugar is flawless, though it couldn´t compete with the brilliance and esprit of her more experienced colleagues who clearly dominated the premiere.

The new production has style and pace; its wild and grotesque plot moves from scene to scene at varying speed. Apart from the excellently performed acting, singing and dancing numbers, a great number of various situations, exchanges, gags and, of course, beautiful live music by the Brno City Theatre orchestra conducted by Ondřej Tajovský, with songs by Bob Merrill in Jiří Josek´s playful translation, all work together to “warm up” the satisfied audience. The play is acted in inventive and well-fitting black and white costumes by Andrea Kučerová, on a comic-book-like stage by Jaroslav Milfajt decorated with drawings by Petr Hloušek.

Vladimír Kloubek´s playful choreography, including the mafia tap dance numbers, also contributes to the overall playfulness and wit. Simply speaking, the new production of Sugar! presents what a majority of contemporary spectators welcome – a perfectly executed work of art which will entertain, empty your head of troubles for a while and make you laugh from the heart.

This is already the second retro production added to Brno City Theatre’s repertoire this season. After Bureš´s adaptation of School, the Foundation of Life, they produced a theatrical version of the immortal film Some Like it Hot and performed it at the more enclosed Drama Theatre. It was the fourth production of this crazy comedy so far for Stanislav Moša, as he had already had a go at it in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the Prague Theatre Pod Palmovkou, and in Bautzen, Germany. It was mainly the actors with their singular handling of their roles that made the Brno production different from just being a copy of the previous performances.

Moša deliberately didn´t use the musical version of Sugar! created on Broadway in 1972 (it had five hundred and five reprises!), but made his own production as close as possible to Billy Wilder´s film, released thirteen years earlier than the musical. Those spectators that have the memory of the unconquerable trio of Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon still fresh in their minds will enjoy the production even more as they will also see several scenes known from the film. Apart from the shooting cake and the tango of Daphne and Osgood, Sugar will also sing the hit I Wanna Be Loved By You, accompanied by a twenty-five-member live orchestra under the leadership of head conductor Ondřej Tajovský.

However, those who might like to recite some of the lines in their mind together with the protagonists will probably sometimes have a difficult time. The creators used a new Czech translation by Jiří Josek, similarly as at the Theatre Pod Palmovkou two years ago, which offers its own specific way of playing with all the double meanings and wordplay.

Moša has projected his fascination with what was then still a black-and-white film into the artistic form of the production. With the help of Jaroslav Milfajt and Petr Hloušek, he has created the stage as well as the drawn scenery in a comic book style that is strictly kept to. Andrea Kučerová used flashy silver as well as black and white in the costumes, which follow in the same spirit and suited the actors well. Perhaps the most inventive interpretational shift is the tap dance stylization of the group of Chicago gangsters around Spats. Their perfectly synchronized dance number Tear the Town Apart is one of the highlights of the production. The chosen concept is based on simplicity, symbols and a sense of detail (for example, the drawn characters also get covered in blood and fall onto the table after the shooting in the garages on Clark Street).

The main strong point of Brno’s production is the acting performances, and not only the actors in the main roles were engaging. Guest actor Roman Vojtek made an eagerly-awaited return to the stage where he had gathered his first professional experience. He endowed the triple role of Joe, Josephine and the millionaire Junior with natural elegance, gracefulness and movement skills. Thanks to his more attractively written part, the actor in the role of Jerry as Daphne gets more attention out of the duo of poor musicians. With his confident acting, Milan Němec gives the impression that he was born to act female roles (let´s remember his Stepmother in Snow White last season).  The fact that he had played the same character during his previous engagement in Pardubice and thus had a small advantage over the others made his performance no less impressive. Němec puts on a show in this role in the good sense of word; he enjoys every little detail of it, entertains with a variety of acting approaches and what appears to be spontaneous comic humour. Most importantly, he keeps the level of stylization under control for the whole time, never slipping into cheaply popular burlesque or transvestite caricature.

Blonde Sugar, from whom a one-string stylization of a simple-minded naïve girl is usually expected, is also a pleasant little devil in Mária Lalková´s performance. Other well-performed and captivating secondary roles were those of Jan Apolenář’s Osgood Fielding, Michal Isteník’s Bienstock (his etude with the flower won applause) or Pavla Vitázková’s Sweet Sue (her exclamation “Biiiiiienstoooooook” will sound in one´s ears for a long time).

Brno´s Sugar! is not and doesn´t even aim to be a grand show with stunning effects. However, it offers a pleasantly relaxing retro experience with a live orchestra and rewarding demonstrations of acting creativity – a far more than adequate experience.

Stanislav Moša has now produced Sugar! for the fourth time. After Ljubljana in Slovenia, Wendish Bautzen and the Prague Theatre Pod Palmovkou it is now in Brno, and in an unprecedented creative form. Who hasn´t been thrilled at least once by Marilyn Monroe’s sexy Sugar and the best known men in women´s clothing - the characters of Josephine and Daphne, otherwise known as the hammy musicians Joe and Jerry – that is, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon? The idea was simple: to revive the silent film grotesque, which had already been dead for twenty years by the end of the 1950s. The thirteen-year-younger musical version (1972) was a success. Moša, with artists Jaroslav Milfajt and Petr Hloušek, turned the grotesque into a comic book – by drawing the gangsters, members of Sweet Sue’s orchestra, people roasting on the beach, all as part of the American comic-book-style scenery. The gangster tap dance numbers by choreographer Vladimír Koubek are very enjoyable. Otherwise, the villains are peace-loving, as the famous lethal fast-and-furious shooting scene with the birthday cake takes place under the brotherly motto “We welcome the delegates of the tenth anniversary meeting of Free Italian Opera!” As pious as politicians. Brno is the central European Mecca of the musical and it isn´t just because of their singing, dancing or acting but everything together. You’d have to travel a long way to find an ensemble to match them.

The famous musical Sugar! has returned to Czech theatres after roughly a quarter of century – the most recent performance so far being that produced by Stanislav Moša at Brno City Theatre. The unbeatable story of two musicians, who, fleeing from mortal danger, ended up disguised as women in an all-girl band, was made into a film by Billy Wilder in 1959. In 1972, the film Some Like It Hot, considered to be the best film comedy of the 20^th century, was transformed into a musical called Sugar! For Stanislav Moša this is already his fourth encounter with the work: he has produced it twice abroad, and once at the Prague Theatre Pod Palmovkou.

Let’s pretendOne can hardly imagine, even purely hypothetically, this famous musical being purposefully directed so that it does not bear the slightest relationship to the original, so strong is the cult power of the film. Stanislav Moša has also tried to bring the musical version as close as possible to the original in his productions without making the result a slavish copy. It may be the case that it wasn’t until he staged it ‘at home’ that he finally found an ensemble which could bring his ideas to fruition almost completely.
The author of the set is Jaroslav Milfajt, as it was at the theatre Pod Palmovkou, and the story takes place amidst “two-dimensional” comic-style set pieces. Stylized gangsters tap dance perfectly and the famous scene from the garage in Chicago’s Clark Street received a special treatment in which Toothpick Charlie, his card-playing friends and subsequently also their murderers speak like criminal monsters from a computer game. The compartment with sleeping berths, where the party takes place, shakes on its way to Miami in Florida “as if” it were moving, while the girls jump into the orchestra-pit “as if” it were the sea, which works quite well.

The nature of the set thus leaves it more up to the actors themselves to create the atmosphere of that period and make the characters (which many of the spectators know inside and out, thanks to the Oscar-winning film) more real – some spectators can even be heard quietly reciting the best known lines. Does Sweet Sue (Pavla Vitázková) call the manager Bienstock (totally clueless, played by Michal Isteník) using the nominative because of the original script, or because as a former soldier she simply doesn´t know the vocative in Czech?

In Marilyn´s footstepsSugar Kane, acted by Mária Lalková (in alternation with Ivana Skálová), is not only a naïve type; the actress lent the character, apart from her fragile beauty, also that strange helpless innocence which the “divine” Marilyn imprinted into the character. All the figures can be easily recognized according to their iconic attributes and the stylization required. As far as the duo of Joe alias Josephine (Roman Vojtek) and Jerry alias Daphne (Milan Němec) is concerned, the latter seems to be more distinct. His clumsy male character is suddenly very convincing in the role of a woman, but not only that – just watch as he performs female dance steps very masterfully and with grace at the party with Osgood Fielding (Jan Apolenář). When the actors perform the singing numbers (nothing is done half-heartedly!) with the live orchestra, one can see that musical acting isn´t just a little bit of everything but an expression of full versatility. People say that when the film Some Like It Hot! was being produced, everyone involved almost killed one another, and yet an immortal piece was created. Should something like this be universally applicable, then those involved in Brno must have had a fierce fight too.

 

For the fourth time, director Stanislav Moša’s Sugar! has ended in standing ovations, and this time at Brno City Theatre. Previous successes were in Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bautzen (Germany) and at the Prague theatre “pod Palmovkou”. Only a few musicals are such a sure-fire bet as Sugar!, with its libretto by Peter Stone based on the film by Wilder and Diamond. It was a stroke of luck that brought Stone, musician Jule Styne and text writer Bob Merrill together to create this crazy musical of musicals.

 

You probably couldn’t find a single person who hasn’t been thrilled, at least once, by Marilyn Monroe’s sexy Sugar and the best known gentlemen in women’s clothing, Josephine and Daphne, otherwise known as the hammy musicians Joe and Jerry – that is Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. The idea was simple: to revive a silent grotesque which had been dead for twenty years already at the end of the 1950s and build a situation comedy around it. Wilder found immortality and it’s no surprise that Stone and Styne´s thirteen-years-younger musical version (1972) became popular.

 

Moša and the creative artists Jaroslav Milfajt and Petr Hloušek found a very cunning solution to the problem of how to fit this large Broadway musical onto the chamber stage of the Drama Theatre. They changed the grotesque into a cartoon – by sketching in the gangsters, the members of the Sweet Sue orchestra, the people roasting on the beach. They retouched the scenery in an American way. Andrea Kucerová’s black and white costumes correspond very cleverly with the artistic conception of the stage. Another delicacy is Vladimír Koubek’s choreography and the gangsters’ (Sagher, Novotný, Przebinda, Brychta, Matěj) excellent tap dance numbers which simply exude libido. These bad guys are actually peace-loving at heart e.g. the famous deadly fast-shooting scene with a birthday cake takes place under the brotherly motto ‘We welcome the delegates of the tenth anniversary meeting of Free Italian opera.’ They are as pious as politicians.

 

The leading Monroe-esque role in Sugar! is played by Mária Lalková, alternating with Ivana Skálová, while Roman Vojtek and Petr Štěpán alternate in the role of Joe (Josefina) and Milan Němec and Aleš Slanina both play Jerry (Daphne). Jan Apolenář is the adorable millionaire, Sir Osgood Fielding, as well as Jan Mazák, who is even keener on marriages. There are no small roles in Some Like it Hot. Pavla Vitázková and Lenka Janíková are Sweet Sue and the somewhat blind Bienstock is played by Michal Isteník.

The theatrical version of Some Like It Hot is currently playing in Brno. Brno City Theatre has produced the comedy Sugar!, and not only hard-core fans of the famous film will be pleased.

 

The production Sugar! by director Stanislav Moša at Brno City Theatre is inspired by the black and white look of the film and comics. You won’t find any other tone (if you don’t consider the sensuously red lipstick) on the stage. This consistent two-colour tone looks great on the décor and the costumes, and creates the desired retro atmosphere evoking the lost celluloid world ruled by the heavenly MM long ago. However, the primary function of the seemingly monotonous colours chosen is to accentuate the most colourful aspect of this production: the acting performances.

The musical was created loosely according to the film script in 1972 and saw more than five hundred repeats on Broadway. It would be fair to remember that director Moša has already produced this title in Ljubljana, Prague and Bautzen. In contrast with the Broadway theatrical version, Moša´s production doesn’t hide the enchantment of the legendary film and he has tried to make his theatrical version as close to this black and white gem as possible.

 

This highly popular costume comedy about two poor musicians who are hiding from gangsters in an all-girl band is full of gags, wordplay and farcical situations. It doesn’t matter that many of these jokes are based on the imbalance between the sexes.

 

This title, which has regular repeats at Czech theatres, is in great condition thanks to Jiří Josek´s buoyant translation. Now the task is to provide all these words and double entendres with the proper spin up on stage and make sure theatre-goers, who are already entertained by the difficulties of the two men dressed in women’s skirts and struggling with suspenders, high heels and all the fancy items women wear, have a grand old time.

 

They really have pulled this off in Brno. Moša´s production builds gradually and never lets up, greatly supported by live music played by an orchestra which is nearly thirty members strong. The great sound of the band conducted by Ondřej Tajovský is one of the strong points of this new theatrical piece. It adds a lot of juice and flavour which would be lost if playback were used.

As has already been said, the success of Sugar! depends on the performance of the central trio. Unfortunately the reviewer only saw one alternation, featuring the trio of Mária Lalková, Milan Němec and Roman Vojtek, the latter having returned as a guest under the theatrical roof where he gained his first professional experience. Both of the men have a great time in their transvestite roles. Milan Němec in particular shows that he has great range as a comedy actor. His Daphne is distinctly a woman and she has theatrical oomph; however, Němec never lets his female heroine run wild. He and Vojtek rage it up on the stage but neither of them lowers themselves to courting popularity with the audience. They have their ladies under control and it is exactly this that makes the spectators even more entertained by their transformation.
It may even seem that this typhoon of female acting presented by the two gentlemen might overshadow Sugar Kane’s performance, but this illusion is wrong. The main role of a real woman as played by Mária Lalková is built on a perfect stylization of a simple naïve blonde who drinks a bit and is waiting for her millionaire.  Lalková could have just let her heroine roll her eyes, pout and wiggle her bottom all the time. Obviously, the actress uses all these weapons for her simple Sugar. The strictly and exactly presented stylization of this childish little devil doesn’t make a shallow impression on the audience. She is both adorable and hilarious, and she balances between these poles skilfully to the extent that one might want to say that Lalková brings the legendary sex symbol with the initials MM to life on the stage. She does imitate her slightly but isn’t exactly like her, as is apparent in the famous song I Wanna Be Loved by You.

One of the strong points of the black and white Brno production is the hand-drawn setting by Jaroslav Milfajt and Petr Hloušek. The costumes by Andrea Kučerová play with the duo of colours in a way which in the case of Josephine and Daphne is intentionally extravagant as far as patterns and style are concerned. Also, Vladimír Kloubek´s choreography, with its use of e.g. tap dancing for the mafia rogues, gives the whole production style.

Theatrical returns to legendary films often have an aftertaste of the logical impossibility of reproducing the film medium. In the case of Brno’s Sugar!, there’s no need to worry, in large part due to the inventive black and white concept which doesn’t hide its fascination with the original and also pokes gentle fun at itself.