'SUGAR': BOYS WILL BE GIRLS

Scott Krietemeyer and George Aplin made the ultimate sacrifice for their art: They shaved their legs.

The consensus at rehearsals for the University Theatre's upcoming production of "Sugar" is that Aplin makes the better girl.

Krietemeyer and Aplin play two musicians who dress as women and join an all-female band in "Sugar," opening at 8 p.m. Friday at the Forrest Rose Theatre.

Sugar continues at 8 p.m. March 4-6 and at 2 p.m. March 7.

Based on the 1959 movie "Some Like It Hot," "Sugar" became a Broadway musical in 1972, receiving four Tony nominations. The music is by Jule Styne ("Gypsy," "Funny Girl"), the lyrics by Bob Merrill ("Carnival," "Funny Girl").

Krietemeyer is Joe/Josephine and Aplin plays Jerry/Daphne in the production. Dressing as women to escape gangsters is Joe's idea and sounds ludicrous to Jerry, but he goes along.

Wearing a skirt is "like waving a red flag in front of a bull," Josephine warns Daphne, who responds, "I'm tired of being the flag. I want to be the bull again."

But eventually it's Jerry/Daphne who really gets in touch with his feminine side.

Playing a woman didn't necessarily come naturally. Two boxes of razors were required to turn Krietemeyer to Josephine. Aplin had even more streamlining to do because he wears a swimming suit in the musical.

"It takes a little getting used to," Aplin says. "Its nothing I'm going to get too used to."

His girlfriend helped by lending him her pantyhose.

"Anything for the part," he says.

In high school, Krietemeyer appeared as Emile DeBecque in "South Pacific." An advertising major from Chesterfield, he views theater as a hobby. "I don't think it will put food on the table for me," he says.

He and Aplin appeared in the male quartet together in 1997's University Theatre production of "The Music Man," also directed by Dennis C. Seyer. Dr. Elizabeth James-Gallagher has been working with Krietemeyer on his vocals. Aplin is a vocal student of Dr. Christopher Goeke, who will direct the orchestra for "Sugar."

Aplin, a senior, is a Cape Central graduate who intends to pursue a career in musical theater. At Central high school, he played a pirate in "Pirates of Penzance" and had the male lead opposite the University Players' Rachel Roberts in "Barefoot in the Park." Roberts is a member of Sweet Sue's Society Syncopators, the female band in "Sugar."

Last summer, Aplin appeared at an outdoor theater in North Carolina.

Krietemeyer and Aplin aren't the only adventurous performers in "Sugar." Matt Kiesling plays Sir Osgood Fielding, the millionaire who romances Daphne. And Laura Huusko is transforming herself into the sweet bombshell Sugar, played in the movie version by Marilyn Monroe.

Female chorus members Bonnie Thornhill, Carrie Kraft, Bria Nicholson, Amy Hankins and Jessica Hency dance to the tune "Sun on My Face" eight feet off the stage atop a train car.

This experience has led to some discoveries about the differences between men and women.

"Women sit different, they take smaller steps and they walk more in a straight line," Krietemeyer says.

His girlfriend heads the stage crew so he wasn't worried about her reaction to seeing him in drag. He is a bit concerned about his father. "He's a bit conservative," Krietemeyer said.

Men dressing as women is one of the oldest comedic tools in theater. "Guys in drag, it's nothing new," Aplin says. "It's funny and you keep what's funny."