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Marilyn Monroe will always be in Coronado
Actors from 2022 musical talk nonbinary
Marilyn Monroe stayed in one of the Del’s cottages when filming Some Like it Hot.
At the turn of the millennium, the American Film Institute named Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot the number one funny movie in American cinema. One of the criteria for inclusion on the list was “Legacy: Laughs that echo across time, enriching America’s film heritage and inspiring artists and audiences today.”
The film tells the story of two male musicians who disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band in order to escape a gang of vicious gangsters, only to get caught up in romantic entanglements during an engagement at Coronado’s Hotel Del Coronado. (In the film, it’s Miami’s Seminole Ritz, but they used the Del for exterior shots, in part because the story is set during Prohibition, and the Del still looked much the same in 1958 as it did in 1929.)
Famously, one of those entanglements is with gen-u-ine cultural icon Marilyn Monroe, who plays a sweet singer named Sugar Kane. Monroe stayed in one of the Del’s cottages during filming; men lined up on the big porch to get a look at her, only to be replaced by extras playing men lined up on the porch to get a look at her. Monroe had what they called “sex appeal,” and two of the film’s notable comic moments stem from it: Jack Lemmon in a nightgown, desperately repeating “I’m a girl, I’m a girl, I’m a girl” as Kane wriggles around in his bunk on a train, and an undisguised Tony Curtis calmly insisting that he’s so frigid he doesn’t feel a thing when she kisses him.
In 2022, a musical version of Some Like it Hot, directed by San Diegan Casey Nicholaw, opened on Broadway. The show was nominated for 13 Tonys and won four, including one for San Diegan Gregg Barnes’ costumes. Book authors Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin wrote that “what really excited us was the idea of taking something as beloved (and yes, perfect) as the original movie and being given carte blanche to take it apart and put it back together again in a new way for new audiences.” Continued Lopez, “we knew we wanted to write a show about people in the process of becoming newer, better, truer versions of themselves.”
A couple of weeks ago, Broadway San Diego arranged for the leads from the show’s touring production to stop by the Del. Mayor John Duncan issued a proclamation from the porch: “Whereas Some Like it Hot, the iconic story that blends humor, romance, and music, holds an honored place both in film history and the legacy of the Hotel Del Coronado…I do hereby proclaim January 29, 2025 Some Like it Hot Day.” New Sugar Kane Leandra Ellis-Gaston joined Tarra Conner Jones’ Sweet Sue in belting out the musical’s title number.
In the Coronet Room, the press chatted with the actors. “The goosebumps just keep coming,” said one star. “I’m literally living out my dream; this is the best role I’ll ever have in my life,” said another. Mayor Duncan asked a Hotel Del bigwig about the ongoing renovations. “There are very few pieces that haven’t been touched,” said the bigwig of the 1888 original structure, adding, “It’s all about what’s next.”
Marilyn display in the Hotel Del gift shop.
Down the hall from the Coronet Room, an employee wheeled a dolly bearing a recumbent, nude, armless mannequin into the gift shop. (It wasn’t broken, just disassembled.) Inside the gift shop, the 1959 Some Like it Hot played with closed captions and no sound on a TV screen under a marquee; the adjacent corner was crowded with Monroe marketing and merch. T-shirts and coffee cups adorned with quotations: “If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure don’t deserve me at my best.” “A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none.” Marilyn Monroe Meritage blend wine. The Sugar Kane statuette, however, was not for sale.
Back in the Coronet Room, NBC’s Audra Stafford interviewed the leads. She noted that “this story is so iconic, but there have been some changes made to kind of advance it, modernize it.” She asked Tavis Kordell, who plays Jerry/Daphne, about those changes. Kordell replied, “When you have someone who identifies as nonbinary like myself stepping into this role, where it’s not a joke, it’s not a trope, it’s the way I decide to express myself. I’m coming to terms with that and finding that this isn’t a disguise; this is who I truly feel I am as a person.”
“I love that,” said Stafford. “And of course, part of what helps you, I’m sure, get into character is the costumes,” she added, turning to the Gregg Barnes gown on display.
Later, Kordell said that after one performance, “Someone stopped me and told me that this story encouraged them to be their authentic self and walk in their truth — I didn’t always walk in mine. And that brought me so much joy.”
Left: Marilyn Monroe outside the Del. Right: Tavis Kordell inside the Del.
The rest of the cast echoed and amplified those sentiments. “I wish the audience could see how much joy we experience.” “It’s probably the first time I’ve been as happy off stage as I was on stage. And I think it spills over.” “At the core of this show is its message of acceptance and love.” In the musical, expressing as a girl is the first time that Jerry/Daphne feels seen. And instead of dreaming about marriage, the African-American Sugar Kane longs for representation; she wants to see someone who looks like she does up on the silver screen — perhaps even someone who looks just like she does.
During the performance that evening, there were any number of funny lines. One that has stayed with me: Josephine says to Daphne, “Remember what the Mother Superior always said: ‘Girls who draw attention to themselves get murdered by gangsters.’” A chuckleworthy, plot-appropriate subversion of expectations. It was an affirmative sort of comedy, more friendly than frisson-y, but the AFI’s number one had clearly done its work in “inspiring artists and audiences today.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Marilyn Monroe will always be in Coronado
Actors from 2022 musical talk nonbinary
Marilyn Monroe will always be in Coronado
Actors from 2022 musical talk nonbinary
Marilyn Monroe stayed in one of the Del’s cottages when filming Some Like it Hot.
At the turn of the millennium, the American Film Institute named Billy Wilder’s 1959 comedy Some Like it Hot the number one funny movie in American cinema. One of the criteria for inclusion on the list was “Legacy: Laughs that echo across time, enriching America’s film heritage and inspiring artists and audiences today.”
The film tells the story of two male musicians who disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band in order to escape a gang of vicious gangsters, only to get caught up in romantic entanglements during an engagement at Coronado’s Hotel Del Coronado. (In the film, it’s Miami’s Seminole Ritz, but they used the Del for exterior shots, in part because the story is set during Prohibition, and the Del still looked much the same in 1958 as it did in 1929.)
Famously, one of those entanglements is with gen-u-ine cultural icon Marilyn Monroe, who plays a sweet singer named Sugar Kane. Monroe stayed in one of the Del’s cottages during filming; men lined up on the big porch to get a look at her, only to be replaced by extras playing men lined up on the porch to get a look at her. Monroe had what they called “sex appeal,” and two of the film’s notable comic moments stem from it: Jack Lemmon in a nightgown, desperately repeating “I’m a girl, I’m a girl, I’m a girl” as Kane wriggles around in his bunk on a train, and an undisguised Tony Curtis calmly insisting that he’s so frigid he doesn’t feel a thing when she kisses him.
In 2022, a musical version of Some Like it Hot, directed by San Diegan Casey Nicholaw, opened on Broadway. The show was nominated for 13 Tonys and won four, including one for San Diegan Gregg Barnes’ costumes. Book authors Matthew Lopez and Amber Ruffin wrote that “what really excited us was the idea of taking something as beloved (and yes, perfect) as the original movie and being given carte blanche to take it apart and put it back together again in a new way for new audiences.” Continued Lopez, “we knew we wanted to write a show about people in the process of becoming newer, better, truer versions of themselves.”
A couple of weeks ago, Broadway San Diego arranged for the leads from the show’s touring production to stop by the Del. Mayor John Duncan issued a proclamation from the porch: “Whereas Some Like it Hot, the iconic story that blends humor, romance, and music, holds an honored place both in film history and the legacy of the Hotel Del Coronado…I do hereby proclaim January 29, 2025 Some Like it Hot Day.” New Sugar Kane Leandra Ellis-Gaston joined Tarra Conner Jones’ Sweet Sue in belting out the musical’s title number.
In the Coronet Room, the press chatted with the actors. “The goosebumps just keep coming,” said one star. “I’m literally living out my dream; this is the best role I’ll ever have in my life,” said another. Mayor Duncan asked a Hotel Del bigwig about the ongoing renovations. “There are very few pieces that haven’t been touched,” said the bigwig of the 1888 original structure, adding, “It’s all about what’s next.”
Marilyn display in the Hotel Del gift shop.
Down the hall from the Coronet Room, an employee wheeled a dolly bearing a recumbent, nude, armless mannequin into the gift shop. (It wasn’t broken, just disassembled.) Inside the gift shop, the 1959 Some Like it Hot played with closed captions and no sound on a TV screen under a marquee; the adjacent corner was crowded with Monroe marketing and merch. T-shirts and coffee cups adorned with quotations: “If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure don’t deserve me at my best.” “A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none.” Marilyn Monroe Meritage blend wine. The Sugar Kane statuette, however, was not for sale.
Back in the Coronet Room, NBC’s Audra Stafford interviewed the leads. She noted that “this story is so iconic, but there have been some changes made to kind of advance it, modernize it.” She asked Tavis Kordell, who plays Jerry/Daphne, about those changes. Kordell replied, “When you have someone who identifies as nonbinary like myself stepping into this role, where it’s not a joke, it’s not a trope, it’s the way I decide to express myself. I’m coming to terms with that and finding that this isn’t a disguise; this is who I truly feel I am as a person.”
“I love that,” said Stafford. “And of course, part of what helps you, I’m sure, get into character is the costumes,” she added, turning to the Gregg Barnes gown on display.
Later, Kordell said that after one performance, “Someone stopped me and told me that this story encouraged them to be their authentic self and walk in their truth — I didn’t always walk in mine. And that brought me so much joy.”
Left: Marilyn Monroe outside the Del. Right: Tavis Kordell inside the Del.
The rest of the cast echoed and amplified those sentiments. “I wish the audience could see how much joy we experience.” “It’s probably the first time I’ve been as happy off stage as I was on stage. And I think it spills over.” “At the core of this show is its message of acceptance and love.” In the musical, expressing as a girl is the first time that Jerry/Daphne feels seen. And instead of dreaming about marriage, the African-American Sugar Kane longs for representation; she wants to see someone who looks like she does up on the silver screen — perhaps even someone who looks just like she does.
During the performance that evening, there were any number of funny lines. One that has stayed with me: Josephine says to Daphne, “Remember what the Mother Superior always said: ‘Girls who draw attention to themselves get murdered by gangsters.’” A chuckleworthy, plot-appropriate subversion of expectations. It was an affirmative sort of comedy, more friendly than frisson-y, but the AFI’s number one had clearly done its work in “inspiring artists and audiences today.”
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