>> Tonight, some like it hot.

The Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis film gets remeasured for Broadway.

We have your backstage pass to see how your favorite shows get made.

"MetroFocus" starts right now.

>> This is "MetroFocus" with Rafael, Jack Ford and Jenna Flanagan.

"MetroFocus" is made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Peter G Peterson Foundation, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Fund.

And by Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation.

>> Good evening.

The classic 1959 film "Some Like it Hot" is back, this time as a Broadway musical.

The new version, which critics call a jubilant, crowd-pleasing musical comedy, takes the story of two Prohibition-era heroines.

It has fabulous singing, dancing and some much more modern twists.

Here is a preview.

>> I hope you like your Broadway hot.

>> Chicago is too hot.

We can't stay here.

♪ >> Some like it hot, and that ain't bad.

>> We are delighted to have with us the three stars that showcase a constellation of talent on that stage.

Welcome to all of you.

So delighted to have you joining us here.

I want to start this conversation with a compliment.

Probably not a bad way to start.

My wife and I saw the show, and we are Broadway theatergoers.

We said that was one of the most enjoyable theater experiences we have ever had.

That is a good way to start our conversation here with that out there.

An iconic film.

When you bring it to the Broadway stage... what was the first reaction to it?

>> I think it was AFI's number one comedy all time.

I think the main challenge and thrill is attempting to take a comedy that -- some of it will be a little problematic.

The material has great comedic bones as well.

It was great to work with something fresh and new.

We talked about a new twist.

Certainly your character when you look at your character in Jerry and Daphne.

>> It was quiet a smooth process for me at this.

There was a lot of trust.

It was wonderful to trust each other, to come into the room and to bring ourselves into the world.

It was great to authentically walk into the room and be myself.

Your role is parallel to an iconic Marilyn Monroe role.

Once again, very different.

Similar to Jay's.

Talk about your character and what you have done to make those changes and to make it through a more modern lens.

>> It was wonderful to have director Casey Nicholaw say, "We don't want you to be Marilyn Monroe.

We want you to be you."

That was it, to do a new take on Sugar.

Now you have this beautiful character who is set in the 1930's.

She is a black woman now.

The stakes are different.

Things shift.

It was such an honor to see our similarities but also glean from other women like Judy Garland and Lena Horne and the list was endless for me.

That process was truly a blessing.

Thinking about trying to fill the shoes of Marilyn Monroe, there was no way I could have done that.

To take this character and make it my own and find the similarities between the two of them was very helpful to me.

>> I think it was accomplished by all of you.

I had seen the film before.

Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe.

From the beginning, I was not seeing any of you -- it wasn't.

I think that is probably what you wanted.

Have any of you actually seen the movie?

All of you have?

Alright, I was wondering if you watched it to prepare for this.

>> I watched to prepare for it.

I had never seen the movie so before agreeing to do the reading at the time, I watched the movie as research and as Christian had before, there were things that were problematic and needed to change.

I was excited to see what work needed to be done.

>> Let me talk about the energy on the stage.

I think that is one of the first things -- the dancing is breathtaking.

What kind of training do you have to -- we play football games once a week.

You doing this twice a night.

>> It is -- it helps -- We as theater performers -- our entire day is geared toward our body prepared at that hour.

We have our moments right before the show where we get to check in with each other.

One of our mantras is 1 foot in front of the other.

The show is such a train ride, literally and figuratively.

All you have to do is begin and we have this, our heart's number.

You can have me if you don't have him.

It is the greatest loss in the world.

Everything after that is like dessert.

Once you catch your breath, you kind of go along for the rest of the ride.

It is good exercise.

>> 1 foot after the other is a pretty good mantra.

>> We can adapt that.

I saw you saying one time this is like a kid playing in the sandbox.

How do you mean?

>> It is because I am working with adult kids almost.

I love being around them so much.

He helped me to tap into my inner child.

Just his freedom and his expression with building something was one of the best experiences of my life.

He reminds me of being like a dad, he looks after me for providing guidance as well as talking about things like, Do you love Disney World?

I love Disney World.

That youthful energy that we all would bring to the stage is what I mean by that.

>> We talk about how this is probably physical theater at its very best.

But with a focus on things that are important today.

I jotted down some notes after I saw it in terms of themes.

You are going to have fun if you come to the show.

But you have to think about some things.

The couple of things I wrote down, let me ask you this.

I said, Freedom, authenticity, journey.

Does that work?

>> For sure.

This is a story of adventure, finding freedom, finding authenticity.

These people are on separate journeys but they find themselves in such beautiful ways.

We can learn that in life to allow certain fantasies to -- You can find a fuller, more deeper version of the human being that is possible.

>> That is beautiful.

>> That is a wonderful way to put all of this.

I know you do this for a living and you are all veterans.

You will have great success in all areas of your performances.

It looks like you're really having fun.

It is a lot of work.

I would suspect that maybe not every production you have been in in your lives has always been fun.

To some extent.

Is this fun?

I look back to you, Adriana.

It is a lot of work.

People don't realize how much work this is.

Does this remain for you night in and night out?

A fun performance?

>> It does.

It is a comedy.

It is a classic musical theater comedy with these people feeling better about living and it helps to work with some of my amazing costars.

They make me laugh every single day.

We all come together and that is our way of tapping into make sure that we are all one and we know what we are going to do and if the work is the work, we understand what this business takes and it is lovely to have a group of people that understand that but also our adults about that while being kids while giving space to create like we used to do when we were younger.

>> We could talk for hours about this.

I want to give you the last question if I can.

What are you hopeful for when people walk out of this theater?

What are you hopeful they will take with them from the show?

>> One of the great things about doing musical comedy is that you make a contract with the audience.

People walk in and hear great music.

You will see some fantastic dancing.

But what is such a relief after the two-year hiccup of not being able to work on stage is to see people collectively laughing, healing.

You have that aspect of it.

The laughs build and build and build in this.

Then there is this lovely sucker punch of a message and humanity that leaves people and there was kind of turned upside down.

The humanity of it all.

>> New York City is home to a number of museums.

Until now, there has never been a permanent museum solely dedicated to honoring New York's greatest artistic contribution, the place of Broadway.

After years of preparation, we can finally say that is no longer the case because of the brand-new Museum of Broadway.

It is located in the heart of Manhattan.

It covers 100 years of this.

It showcases props and costumes and other memorabilia from countless Broadway shows.

The museum created in partnership with artists and designers from the theater community itself also featured permanent exhibits including those dedicated to the behind-the-scenes crews that are so essential to putting together the shows that we all love.

We are thrilled to be talking more about the Broadway Museum with the museum's cofounders.

Welcome to both of you.

>> Why the museum and why now?

>> Great question.

There has never been a museum dedicated to Broadway, the history of Broadway is so rich.

It is the theater in New York, they have been around since 1700.

We feel very fortunate and grateful to be the ones that are making it happen.

We found this incredible space in Times Square.

Same question to you.

I am always fascinated by the genesis of an idea.

What about for the two of you?

When did you say that is something we should be doing?

>> It was all Julie's idea.

She was wondering why there isn't a museum of Broadway.

We were just talking about that the other day.

I just paused for a minute.

How does one not exist?

We started just brainstorming on if we were to create one, what we would do and how we would go about it, and that was sort of the impetus for the idea and then five years later, here we are.

>> There was a chunk of time in the midst of that five years where everything was thrust into disarray in our lives.

I suspect the development of the museum.

>> We were wondering what the story was, we were working off of that.

It was hard at first because you cannot actually go to see spaces because everything is closed.

It give us some time to really continue to work on the design, and we worked a lot over zoom.

We started looking at spaces and actually, the space that we are in, used to be in Irish bar that unfortunately did not make it through Covid.

When one door closes, another opens.

It is right off of Times Square.

This is a really nice place to be.

There is a bit of a silver lining from Covid to find the space, secure it.

>> How important was it?

How important was it?

>> It was extremely important.

It was one of the greatest challenges because we were limited.

It took a little longer.

We had to get creative because they were not as many spaces that had the square footage we needed.

Also, the layout because we did have the concept prior to finding the actual space.

>> I want to give our viewers a sense of what is there.

How does a production get made?

We all see what is on the stage as you know.

There are years of work that are involved before it becomes that.

What was important to say we need a permanent exhibit.

>> We were brainstorming what it could be.

It is what we wished for.

I grew up a huge fan of Broadway.

I started performing when I was five.

I have been a fan for a very long time.

It took me a long time to learn about all the rules backstage.

It is meant to show you the different jobs that exist.

You sit in the audience and you see the final product but you don't know the seven or 10 years it takes sometimes to develop a show to get them to Broadway.

Hopefully we can expose people to something on Broadway.

>> Tell me about some of the other permanent exhibits there.

>> We took a timeline of Broadway.

Each of the shows highlighted on the exhibit are of "Phantom," where we have a crystal chandelier.

If you look at it one way, you see this lovely crystal installation.

If you turn the other way, you see the mask that comes through.

You get to experience America re-created by dancers.

Each room has its own little unique experience.

It really immerses you into these different exhibits.

The first question is, Where do they come from?

Where did you find them all?

>> We have an incredible team of curators.

A lot just came from relationships.

It is just conversations and uncovering what still exists.

Not everything was kept from the past.

The public theater has done an incredible job of keeping the Chorus Line costumes from when it closed.

They have uncovered these incredible ones.

We have Meryl Streep's!

It is just wonderful for people to get to see up close and that you get to see the handiwork that goes into making this costume.

Our creator has done extra in every job of bringing them altogether.

I ran into my friend, who was the producer of "Hades Town."

I was like could we have this costume on display?

She was like sure.

It happens kind of organically.

>> Do you guys have favorites of the artifacts?

Maybe this is like asking a mother if you have a favorite child to some extent, but I will still ask you.

Do you have some favorites?

>> We have some that have really interesting stories behind them.

There is a part of that that makes it extra interesting.

We have these on loan from the early 1900s.

It is so impressive that they still exist.

There are many costumes that done.

It is great that we have original costumes that we have on display.

>> You kind of think in black and white.

We have always seen black-and-white photos but the colors were extraordinary.

They are so bright and vibrant.

It kind of changes.

>> When you wander through a museum and you think this is fabulous, but then you see another one, and that is fabulous as well.

Is that what you want from us?

To have the same reaction?

>> Absolutely.

It is fun to see everyone have a different favorite.

If you're looking for something a little bit more abstract, moody or cheerful, there is a different room and a different experience for you.

"hank you for tuning in to "MetroFocus."

You can take our award-winning programming wherever you go.

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Also available at metrofocus.org.

>> MetroFocus is made possible by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III the Joan Ganz Cooney Fund, Bernard and Denise Schwartz, Barbara Hope Zuckerberg, and by Jody and John Arnold, the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, the Ambrose Monell Foundation, and Estate of Roland Karlen.