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With schools closing early due to heat and more 90-plus degree days in next week’s forecast, the timing could not be more apt for the Broadway show Some Like It Hot to swing through Portland. This production will have some of our own homegrown talent in it, too: actor and dancer Bryan Thomas Hunt from Northwest Portland will be in the cast.
Hunt grew up a theater kid, performing with major companies in town: Northwest Children’s Theater, Oregon Children’s Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Broadway Rose Theatre Company and Lakewood Theatre Company.
But Hunt has never been on the Keller Auditorium stage before. That changes when he performs in Some Like It Hot, running at the Keller Sept. 2-7. This show opens Broadway in Portland’s 2025-2026 season, followed by the musicals The Lion King and Shucked.
“It was always a bucket list dream to come through with a national tour,” says Hunt on a phone interview during a break from Some Like It Hot rehearsal in New York City, where he lives. “The closest I’ve gotten is Sacramento at one point. To be able to come home and perform on the Keller is a huge achievement for me. It’s really exciting.”
Hunt, now 36, attended Catlin Gabel School in Southwest Portland and graduated from Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton. He didn’t start dancing until high school, where he learned some of the basics of ballet, jazz and tap. He then went to Boston Conservatory for college, where he studied acting, music and dance. Since graduating in 2011, Hunt has been on the national tours for Billy Elliot and White Christmas.
Some Like It Hot is a musical comedy based on the 1959 film of the same title, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Set in Chicago during Prohibition, it tells the story of two musicians forced to flee the city—in drag—after witnessing a mob hit. The musical opened on Broadway in 2022. It won four Tony Awards in 2023, including for Best Choreography.
Hunt is an understudy and a “swing”—trained in eight different roles—and he will perform in the ensemble for a few shows during the Portland run. He is also slotted to play the lead role of Joe at the 7:30 pm show Friday, Sept. 5, subbing in for actor Matt Loehr. Hunt’s family will be there.
“I get to go on for the lead in my hometown, which is really cool,” Hunt says.
GO: Some Like It Hot at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St. 503-417-0573, portland.broadway.com/ . Sept. 2-7. $58-$179.
