The writer and late night host takes us behind some script pages she co-wrote for the new musical.
Nobody’s perfect, but that won’t stopAmber Ruffinfrom trying when it comes to writing a musical.
Casual fans might not know that this isn’t the first musical Ruffin has written.
Amber Ruffin and ‘Some Like It Hot’.
But this is Ruffin’s first time in the Broadway big leagues.
“I love writing musicals,” she tells EW.
“I always have, ever since I realized I was allowed to.
Amber Ruffin
But it takes so long to realize that there aren’t any rules.
you’ve got the option to do whatever you want.
No one’s keeping track of you.”
Amber Ruffin
Most notably, Sugar Kane, the role originated byMarilyn Monroe, was re-written specifically as a Black woman.
“We all know the story,” she says.
Having watched the show 50 million times, I still get excited before each of the numbers.
Marc and Scott truly outdid themselves.
Later on in the week, I was singing two different songs.
That’s how f—ing earwormy this show is.
Still, original star Marilyn Monroe was heavy on Ruffin’s mind while writing.
It just so happened to end up being who I think Marilyn Monroe was in real life.
She was smart and savvy and fun.
And that’s who Sugar is."
Ruffin is aware of the potential pitfalls ofSome Like It Hot.Other recent Broadway film-to-stage adaptations, such asTootsieandMrs.
But Ruffin says their approach as writers and comedians nullifies any of that.
“I’ve heard that concern,” she reflects.
But it’s not crazy to anyone who helped write the show.
So, it just didn’t come through in any of our writing."
Here, she breaks them down for us.
The two musicians find themselves thrown out on the street and in need of employment.
Ruffin struggled just which pages to share with us because of her fear of spoilers.
“Fankly, I didn’t want to give anything away,” she says.
“So, I was really limited to what I could choose.
But it’s fun because it establishes the nice feel of the show.”
“It felt like a writer’s room.
I do think we were onto something with that.
I have to be in a writer’s room most of the time.
I don’t think people who write musicals do that.
But I’m here to tell you, they should.”
“The check marks are laughs,” she explains.
You put hearts in, and you’re like, ‘Okay, this feels nice.’
It’s a very rudimentary system I’ve got in place."
“Maybe they are?
I don’t know.
Are there tap numbers in this show?
Who is to say?
I’m not getting in trouble for saying anything.
Technically, you received no response to that question.”
But she’s similarly mum.
“Maybe it does.
Maybe they never say it again.
Who’s to say?”
“You know they don’t hire Black musicians.”
Making the world ofSome Like It Hotmore diverse was a major goal of the entire production team.
So much so, that Ruffin already knew what cast she had to play with when she signed on.
“I was like, ‘Oh, Sugar is Black.
And she’s a central character to this, and so is Jerry.
And they are a central character to this,'” she recounts.
“I thought, ‘Whoa, that’s two of the three main characters that are Black.
I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, most of the cast is Black?
This is fantastic.'”
But Ruffin isn’t here to right a historical wrong or anything.
“I certainly wasn’t out to defend jazz or anything,” she quips.
“La La Landbeat that out of me.
Thanks to [Ryan Gosling], everybody’s doing great.”
“A band can’t sound white.”
in reference to a bandsoundingwhite, and her later update, “We did!”
“I really thought that was more of a TV joke,” she explains.
“But J’s delivery can sell anything.
But you didn’t do a good job.
They did a good job.
They’re two dangerous people to write for because they’ll get you your laughs.
They got me in some real bad habits.”
Ruffin proudly declares her a new addition to the storytelling.
And don’t expect this to be a one-and-done for Ruffin on Broadway.
Maybe it’s also an old movie turned musical.
Who’s to say?"
