INTERVIEW: Mark Lotito on the ‘little gift’ of ‘Some Like It Hot’
Photo: Some Like It Hot features Mark Lotito as the gangster Spats. Photo courtesy of Michaelah Reynolds / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
The hard-working cast members of the new musical comedy Some Like It Hot bring a farcical and meaningful story to packed houses eight times a week at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. The show, which makes several key updates over the original movie starring Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, finds two musicians who witness a murder in Prohibition-era Chicago. Their only means of escape is to join a traveling band and head for the West Coast, and along the way, they find their true selves.
Mark Lotito, a Broadway veteran, plays the gangster Spats, the murderous villain of the show who is always one step behind the musicians, played by Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee.
“I can’t tell you how much fun it is to do,” Lotito said in a recent phone interview. “It’s just a joy, you know, like a little gift.”
Lotito grew up on Long Island and remembers catching the original Some Like It Hot when it played as part of “movie of the week” specials on either channel 5 or channel 11.
“I happened to catch it a couple times as a kid, so I was very, very aware of the movie,” he said. “So the call came a long time ago to start participating in readings of the project, and that was before the pandemic. I can’t tell you how much it has evolved since then. What a wonderful thing to witness, to see how they created this thing and how it evolved and the way they needed to change it from the movie.”
Lotito had a front-row seat for the development of the musical. He knew that the creators — Matthew López and Amber Ruffin wrote the book, Marc Shaiman wrote the music and lyrics, Scott Wittman wrote the lyrics, and Casey Nicholaw directs — definitely wanted everyone to have a fun night at the theater, but they also wanted the narrative to be poignant and true. Thus, there are major updates to the characters of Joe/Josephine and Jerry/Daphne.
“They wanted it to be a celebratory night in the theater, but they wanted to have a really heartfelt message,” said Lotito, who has appeared in everything from The Most Happy Fella to Fiddler on the Roof. “And watching the way they delivered this message so beautifully and humanely is just great. That wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like that from the beginning. It took a long time to find the right balance of all that, so I think the story says: ‘Come along with us, and you’ll have some fun, and you’ll feel good about these people.’ They might discover things about themselves, and you’ll witness that and come along with it. How can you not feel good about it? It’s just so lovely, the humanity of all these characters, what they go through, what they have to learn.”
Lotito approaches the character of Spats from a unique angle. Yes, every story needs a bad guy, but the actor goes deeper with his portrayal. He views Spats as stuck in the criminal world and unable to get out. That’s where he cast his lot, and now he has a 9-to-5 as a murdering gangster.
“That’s where he’s going to make it or he’s going to break in that world,” he said. “There’s a side of him that sees people and their ability and their talent, regardless of who they are or what they look like. So in this crazy way you’ve got this gangster who’s willing to kill to get what he wants, but there’s something about him that does recognize that everybody has ability.”
Most of all, it appears that Lotito is filled with joy to be part of this ensemble of actors, which also includes Adrianna Hicks as the singer Sugar and Adam Heller as Mulligan, the police detective hot on Spats’ heels.
“Everyone in the cast is just a wonderful person,” said Lotito, who has appeared in TV’s Pose, For Life and the rebooted Law & Order. “Whether I see them a lot or talk to them a lot or we’re just there passing each other when we’re at work, it’s just a great group. It’s a wonderful tone in the theater that was set a long time ago. I guess you can give credit to the director and the producers and everybody in charge of that, but I just love working with everybody. I really do. People are generous and kind, and it’s been a terrific experience. Everybody is unbelievably talented and brings what they have to offer. It’s inspiring. You don’t always get a lot of those. I’m old enough and been around long enough to recognize it and appreciate it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Some Like It Hot, featuring Mark Lotito, continues at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
