Following a hugely successful run last summer at London’s Barbican Theatre, the smash-hit production of the Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate begins playing at U.S. cinemas today.
According to Concord Theatricals, the company that represents the estate of Cole Porter, the musical is about passions running high “as leading lady Lilli Vanessi and her ex-husband, actor/director Fred Graham, battle onstage and off in a production of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. With romance, comedy, sophistication and behind-the-scenes high jinks, Kiss Me, Kate combines the irreverent humor of four brilliant writers: Sam and Bella Spewack, Cole Porter and William Shakespeare.”
Musical numbers include “So In Love,” “Wunderbar,” “Tom, Dick or Harry,” “Too Darn Hot,” “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” “I Hate Men,” “Always True to You (In My Fashion)” and “Another Op’nin, Another Show.”
The West end production was directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, with music and lyrics by Porter and book by the Spewacks.
According to Concord Theatricals, “Kiss Me, Kate opened on Broadway on December 30, 1948 at the New Century Theatre, starring Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. The show transferred to the Shubert Theatre and ran for a total of 1,077 performances.
”A London production opened on March 8, 1951 and ran for 400 performances at the Coliseum Theatre.
“The original cast album issued in 1948 by Columbia Records was the very first Broadway cast recording to be issued on LP. And in 1949, Kiss Me, Kate won the very first Tony Award for best musical.
“In 1999, a revised version of the show was revived on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre, starring Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The production was extremely well received, and played for 881 performances. The 1999 revival at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London played for about 300 performances, starring Marin Mazzie and Brent Barrett. In 2018, the Roundabout Theatre Company presented a newly revised version of Kiss Me, Kate starring Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase. The critically acclaimed revival ran through June 30, 2019.”
In an interview with Forbes.com last week, Block said Sher cast the new production “outside the norm.” Standing 5’9” tall, she said she portrayed her character as “quite formidable, rather than as an ingenue.”
Sher took away the stigma of her character being an angry woman, Block explained, “updating her for the moment, adding the character’s background and emotional currency, which helps the audience understand where she’s coming from.”
She also said the way the production was filmed “is really gorgeous.”
A 2019 Tony Award winner for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical for The Cher Show, Block just recorded Audible’s Cher: The Memoir, Part One at Cher’s request. She also is the host and co-producer of the podcast Stages.
Sher won a Tony Award in 2008 for best director of a musical for South Pacific.
The creative team for his Kiss Me, Kate revival—which features a company of over 50, including a full orchestra—has won a total of 20 Tony Awards among them.
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