Glenbrook Players

Some Like it Hot
by Bob Merrill & Jule Styne

Directed by Anita Nau-Kleinmann

April 2005

Review from the "Gazette"

Plenty of laughs in "Some Like It Hot"

I recently attended a performance of the Glenbrook Players' new production "Some Like It Hot" at the Springwood Community Club in Lawson Street, Springwood.

The play is the stage version of the movie "Some Like it Hot".

The storyline, set in the 1920s, is centred on Joe and Jerry, out-of-work musicians, who witness a Valentine's Day mob shooting in Chicago. To escape the gangsters, they become Josephine and Daphne and join an all female band going to Miami. The scene is set with both the guys/girls getting involved in romantic entanglements that have the audience in stitches.

The actors playing the two musicians embrace the humour that encompasses men masquerading as women. In the straighter role of Joe, Harald Kleinmann has the difficult issue of falling in love with a woman who doesn't know he is a man.
As Jerry, Peter Young's comedic talents are given free rein as he is reluctantly pursued by an aging millionaire (the debonair Max Sinclair). His scenes in the train carriage with the band members and later with a set of maracas are hilarious.

Harald Kleinmann
Peter Young

As Sugar, the band member who has a weakness for saxophone players, Rebecca Curtis-O'Neill is stunning. This role made famous by Marilyn Monroe, is a tough ask for any performer, but Miss Curtis-O'Neill brings a touching vulnerability to the role and is totally believable.

In the role of Sweet Sue the Band Leader, Anne Bell is a martinet keeping band members (Narelle Nathan, Joan McKay, Katrina Samuel and Nicole Rodger) in line. These ladies are fresh and lively and obviously having fun with the roles. As the much harassed band manager, Bienstock, Roxanne West is an interesting androgynous character.

The gangsters and mobsters look the part and have the most authentic looking machine guns and really ham up their death scenes!

Rebecca Curtis-O'Neill

The comic theme is enhanced by the enthusiastically inept dancers, who wiggle and giggle to choreography by fellow dancer Danny Kingsley. The director Anita Nau-Kleinmann, in her directorial debut, has used the stage and the dance floor to create an interesting mix of action. This is an energetic production where stage crew work tirelessly to accommodate the numerous scene changes and coordinate the multiple performance areas.

The production was highly entertaining with the audience being seated at tables in cabaret style enjoying the added luxury of a drink during the show. I encourage you to come along and see "Some Like it Hot" during its remaining season from May 6 - 14.

Ian Stone.

The Cast

The Crew