By Ed Siegel, Globe Staff

     With all the hype surrounding Tony Curtis appearing in the musical remake of ''Some Like It Hot,'' the great Billy Wilder film he starred in, it is easy to lose sight of some of the famous names behind the scenes, like the composer Jule Styne (''Gypsy''), the lyricist Bob Merrill (''Funny Girl'' with Styne), and the original director and choreographer, Gower Champion (''42nd Street''), who brought the show to life back in 1972 when it was known as ''Sugar.''

     It should come as no surprise, then, that its new incarnation is a thoroughly professional, perfectly pleasant throwback of a musical. No sinking ships or murdered minorities here, ''Some Like It Hot'' is simply a fun night at the theater with melodic song after energetic dance after romantic/comic interlude for the better part of three hours. That it also doesn't leave you with the sense of high-octane buoyancy of the best Broadway musicals shouldn't be held too much against it. This was never billed as the second coming of ''My Fair Lady.''

     For those who have never seen what the American Film Institute called, with some justification, the best comedy ever made, the story is your average boy dressed up as girl meets girl, boy dressed as boy gets girl, boy dressed as girl loses girl, boy dressed as boy gets girl again. Or to be more precise, two musicians flee the St. Valentine's Day murderers by pretending to be women in an all-female band.

     Taking over for the late Jack Lemmon and Curtis, who now plays the Joe E. Brown role, are Timothy Gulan and Arthur Hanket. It isn't nearly as much fun watching them in drag as it was watching Lemmon and Curtis because we don't have a history with the new guys. Although as Gulan gets more and more into the Daphne (Lemmon) role in the second half, the more he starts to shine. For his part, Hanket's big surprise comes when he turns into the rich seducer and instead of using the Cary Grant accent, out comes Teddy Kennedy.

     The delights are really elsewhere in the cast. There was only one Marilyn Monroe, but that doesn't stop Jodi Carmeli from being fabulous as Sugar, the ditzy heartthrob of both men. Her smile is less Marilyn than Dolly, and the rest of her is pretty Partonesque as well, including pipes that bring the house down with her late-in-the-show torch song.

     The other tour de force performance is William Ryall as Spats, a mob boss who has more in common with Savion Glover than Tony Soprano. He and his minions tap-dance people to death. It sounds preposterous, but like most everything else in the show, it works. Curtis, as the elder statesman looking for love in all the wrong places, shows his rust. He's not very funny, but it's still amusing to watch him kick along with the chorus and speak-sing ''November Song'' and ''I Fall in Love Too Easily.'' (And yes, that elder actor who is funny is indeed Larry ''F Troop'' Storch.)

     Styne's and Merrill's songs (one has lyrics by Sammy Cahn) don't make for the most memorable soundtrack in history, but there aren't any duds either. Similarly, the choreography is elegant if unexciting. (Not having seen the original ''Sugar,'' I can't say how much is Champion and how much is Dan Siretta.)

     Of course, the source material can't be beat, and if this version doesn't have Wilder's cynical sophistication, that shouldn't be very surprising either. Some might like it ironic when it comes to musicals, but most like the more straightforward pleasures that ''Some Like It Hot'' has in abundance.

Ed Siegel can be reached at siegel@globe.com.

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