Kiss Me, Kate (1948), a musical comedy by Sam and Bella Spewack (book), Cole Porter (music, lyrics). [New Century Theatre, 1,077 perf.; Tony Award.] The stars of the new musical version of The Taming of the Shrew, currently trying out in Baltimore, are the egomaniac Fred Graham (Alfred Drake) and the temperamental Lilli Vanessi (Patricia Morison), who were once married to each other but are now divorced and still bickering with each other. Lilli receives a bouquet from Fred, leading her to believe he still loves her, but when she learns the flowers are meant for the flirty Lois Lane (Lisa Kirk), she determines to be revenged by walking out on the show. Fred's problems are compounded when another member of the company, Bill Calhoun (Harold Lang), signs Fred's name to a gambling debt. Opening night is peppered by warfare between Fred and Lilli, and by the demands by two comic hoods for payment of the IOU. Fred convinces the hoods that they must force Lilli to perform in order to get their money, which they do until their boss is wiped out and the IOU becomes invalid. Just as Shakespeare's Kate and Petruchio come to terms on stage, so do Fred and Lilli make up backstage. Notable songs: Wunderbar; So in Love; Always True to You in My Fashion; Brush Up Your Shakespeare; Too Darn Hot; Why Can't You Behave? Called by Brooks Atkinson “a blissfully enjoyable musical show,” the work is generally acknowledged as Porter's masterpiece. Not only did he employ Shakespearean lines and whole passages with wit and taste, but his songs actually seemed to come out of and be a part of the libretto, both in the Shrew scenes and in the backstage story, a rare thing for the cavalier composer. The Saint Subber–Lemuel Ayers production was an immediate hit and the musical has been revived in all venues ever since, most recently a 1999 production that was popular on Broadway and the West End.
Kiss Me, Kate
| American Theater Guide: Kiss Me, Kate |
| Album Review: Kiss Me, Kate |
- Artist:
Various Artists - Rating:
- Release Date: October 22, 2002
- Type: Collection (various artists)
- Genre: Vocal Music
Review
In 1992, the Indiana Historical Society marked native son Cole Porter's centenary a year late by issuing the box set You're the Top: Cole Porter in the 1930s. The organization followed in 1999 with another box that surveyed the rest of Porter's career, You're Sensational: Cole Porter in the '20s, '40s & '50s. In 2002, the three discs from that collection were released separately. Kiss Me, Kate is the second of them, covering 1940-1948, and named after Porter's acclaimed 1948 musical. The organizing principle of both of the boxes, explained in the liner notes (which are not included here), was to take Porter's work in chronological order by show and film, but not by date of actual recording. Thus, this volume mixes a 1994 Mabel Mercer recording of "Ace in the Hole" from 1941's Let's Face It with recordings of songs from the show recorded much closer to its premiere. It also includes recordings made in a variety of styles. Several tracks are instrumental jazz treatments, usually presented after a vocal version of the same song has already been provided, such as pianist Dave McKenna's recording of "Dream Dancing" from the film You'll Never Get Rich, which follows a performance of the same song by Fred Astaire, who starred in the picture. There are some wonderful performers, including Ethel Merman (heard in a couple of unofficial on-stage renditions of songs from Panama Hattie), Judy Garland, Danny Kaye, Sarah Vaughan, and Benny Goodman, and some classic Porter songs, such as "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To," "I Love You," and "So in Love." But this is more a scholar's Cole Porter than a casual listener's, and a great deal is lost in terms of comprehension by the elimination of the extensive annotations that accompanied the box set. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| I've Still Got My Health (Panama Hattie) | Cole Porter | Ethel Merman | (3:01) |
| Make It Another Old-Fashioned, Please (Panama Hattie) | Cole Porter | Ethel Merman | (2:57) |
| Let's Be Buddies [From Panama Hattie] | Cole Porter | Judy Garland, Ethel Merman | (0:58) |
| Dream Dancing [You'll Never Get Rich] | Cole Porter | Fred Astaire | (2:46) |
| Dream Dancing [You'll Never Get Rich] | Cole Porter | Dave McKenna | (4:42) |
| So Near and Yet So Far [You'll Never Get Rich] | Cole Porter | Fred Astaire | (3:21) |
| Ev'rything I Love [Let's Face It] | Cole Porter | (2:57) | |
| Ace in the Hole [Let's Face It] | Cole Porter | Mabel Mercer | (2:39) |
| Let's Not Talk About Love [Let's Face It] | Cole Porter | Danny Kaye, Cole Porter | (2:27) |
| Through Thick and Thin [Something to Shout About] | Cole Porter | Hazel Scott | (2:37) |
| You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To [Something to Shout About] | Cole Porter | Barbara Lea | (3:22) |
| You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To [Something to Shout About] | Cole Porter | Coleman Hawkins, |
(4:18) |
| By the Mississinewah [Something for the Boys] | Cole Porter | (3:20) | |
| Girls [Mexican Hayride] | Cole Porter | (2:17) | |
| I Love You | Cole Porter | Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan | (2:40) |
| Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye [Seven Lively Arts] | Cole Porter | Teddy Wilson | (3:06) |
| Only Another Boy and Girl [Seven Lively Arts] | Cole Porter | (2:59) | |
| Be a Clown [From The Pirate] | Cole Porter | Judy Garland, Gene Kelly | (2:53) |
| Overture: Another Op'nin', Another Show [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | (1:44) | |
| Wunderbar [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | Jo Stafford, Gordon MacRae | (2:48) |
| So in Love [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | (2:16) | |
| So in Love [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | Dick Wellstood | (2:34) |
| I Hate Men [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | (2:15) | |
| Where Is the Life That Late I Led? [From Kiss Me, Kate] | Cole Porter | Alfred Drake | (4:26) |
| Brush up Your Shakespeare | Cole Porter | (1:41) |
Credits
| Wikipedia: Kiss Me, Kate |
| Kiss Me, Kate | |
| Music | Cole Porter |
|---|---|
| Lyrics | Cole Porter |
| Book | Samuel and Bella Spewack |
| Basis | Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew |
| Productions | 1948 Broadway 1951 West End 1999 Broadway revival 2001 West End revival 2007 Italian Version |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award Composer and Lyricist Tony Award for Best Author Tony Award for Best Revival Drama Desk Outstanding Revival Evening Standard for Best Musical Critics Circle for Best Musical |
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
Kiss Me, Kate was a comeback and a personal triumph for Cole Porter. After several successful musicals in the 1920's and 1930s, notably Gay Divorce, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and Anything Goes, he experienced an equestrian accident in 1937 that left him in constant pain. Following the accident, he continued to write songs and musicals but with limited success, such as Mexican Hayride, Let's Face It!, and Something for the Boys, and some thought he was past his prime. Kiss Me, Kate was a response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals, and it proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.[1] It won the first Tony Award presented for Best Musical, in 1949.
Contents |
Productions
After a 3½ week pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia starting December 2, 1948, the original Broadway production opened on December 30, 1948 at the New Century Theatre, where it ran for nineteen months before transferring to the Shubert, for a total run of 1,077 performances. Directed by John C. Wilson with choreography by Hanya Holm, the original cast included Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang, Edwin Clay, Charles Wood, Annabelle Hill, Lorenzo Fuller, Eddie Sledge, Fred Davis, Harry Clark and Jack Diamond.
The original West End production opened on March 8, 1951 at the Coliseum Theatre, and ran for 400 performances. Directed by Sam Spewack with choreography again by Hanya Holm, this production starred Patricia Morison, Bill Johnson, and Julie Wilson.
A Broadway revival opened at the Martin Beck Theatre on November 18, 1999 and closed on December 30, 2001 after 881 performances and 28 previews. Directed by Michael Blakemore and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and Rob Ashford, the opening night cast included Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Amy Spanger, Michael Berresse, Ron Holgate, Lee Wilkof, and Michael Mulheren. This production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, and Lee Wilkof received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor.
A West End revival opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre on October 30, 2001 and closed on August 24, 2002. As with the 1999 Broadway revival, Michael Blakemore was the director with choreography by Kathleen Marshall. Brent Barrett and Marin Mazzie co-starred.
The Italian Version opened at the Teatro delle Celebrazioni in Bologna on December 31, 2007. Directed by Franco Pulvirenti and choreographed by Ruggero Bogani. The cast included Cosetta Gigli, Edoardo Guarnera, Pippo Santonastaso, Josè Arpino, Gaia Bellunato, Italo Ciciriello, Guido Trebo, Massimiliano Drapello and Maria Grazia Valentino.
Plot
- Act I
Egotistical Fred Graham is the director of a Broadway-bound musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. He and his diva movie-star ex-wife Lilli Vanessi star opposite each other in the roles of Petruchio and Katharine (The "Kate" of the title). The pair argue backstage as only people in love can argue. Meanwhile, Fred's new girlfriend, Lois Lane, who plays Bianca, is romantically interested in Bill Calhoun, the actor playing Lucentio. Bill loves to gamble, and it turns out that he has signed Fred's name to a big IOU [for $10,000 from a game of craps]. Also, flowers sent by Fred to Lois are mistakenly delivered to Lilli, and Lilli realizes that she still loves Fred.
Everyone is in the middle of performing The Taming of the Shrew on stage when Lilli discovers that Fred's flowers were really intended for Lois, and she starts an all-out war mid-performance that threatens the production's success. At the same time, a pair of gangsters have come after Fred to collect the gambling debt, since his name is on the IOU. Only a successful show will provide the money that Fred needs to avoid getting his fingers broken. Fred slyly uses the gangsters to prevent the furious Lilli from walking out on the show. The gangsters join the cast to keep an eye on Lilli. Lilli channels her anger into a fierce performance as Katharine, and Fred loses his temper and spanks her as Petruchio.
- Act II
After intermission, "The Shrew" progresses as Petruchio marries Katharine and soon misses the single life. The gangsters find out that their boss has been killed, and so the IOU is worthless, and they leave, noting that guys who know Shakespeare can impress the ladies. Lilli quits the show, walking out with her dependable fiance Harrison. On stage, Bianca and Lucentio are finally married. As "The Shrew" comes to a close, Lilli unexpectedly returns to the stage, and speaking as Katharine, she admits her love for Fred. Lilli and Fred are reunited, Lois and Bill come together, and all ends happily.
Cultural references and Lexicon
- In homage to Noel Coward, Fred quotes (in part) a famous comic line from the playwright's 1930s' play Private Lives saying "Women should be struck regularly like gongs."
- The homophones "aye" and "I" are used to comic effect in the second act.
Film and television
A film version of the same name was released in 1953. There have been at least four television productions, the first on Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1958, with Drake and Morison reprising their Broadway roles, the second recorded for the launch of BBC Two in the UK in 1964, starring Howard Keel, Patricia Morison and Millicent Martin, the third in 1968 with then husband-and-wife team Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence, and the fourth in 2003 on Great Performances, a high-definition shot performance of the London revival with Brent Barrett and Rachel York.
Song list
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In 1998, the original cast recording of the 1948 Broadway production was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Awards and nominations
Original 1948 Production
- Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Author of a Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (winner)
1999 Revival
- Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Brian Stokes Mitchell, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Berresse, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Lee Wilkof, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Mulheren, nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Costume Design (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Lighting Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)
- Tony Award for Best Orchestrations (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Brian Stokes Mitchell, winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Mulheren and Lee Wilkof, nominees)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design (winner)
- Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (winner)
2001 London Revival
- Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production (nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Brent Barrett, nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Nancy Anderson and Michael Berresse, nominees)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design (nominee)
- Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)
- Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical (winner)
- Critics Circle Award for Best Musical (winner)
References
External links
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
 | The Best of Broadway, Vol. 3 (2000 Album by Original Broadway Cast) |
| Kiss Me, Kate/Out of This World (Album by Original Broadway Casts) |
| Out of This World (1950 Album by Original Soundtrack) |
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Copyrights:
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 | American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kiss Me, Kate". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- The Best of Broadway, Vol. 3 (2000 Album by Original Broadway Cast)
- Kiss Me, Kate/Out of This World (Album by Original Broadway Casts)
- Out of This World (1950 Album by Original Soundtrack)
- Alfred Drake (American musician, actor & dramatist)
- Samuel Spewack (literature)
- Harold Lang (American Theater)
- All Through the Night (1991 Album by Dick Hyman)
- Kiss Me, Kate [1999 Broadway Revival Cast] (2000 Album by 1999 Broadway Revival Cast)
- Four on the Aisle (2000 Album by The Four Lads)
- Good & Rare (2006 Album by Bing Crosby)
- Composers on Broadway: Cole Porter (2006 Album by Various Artists)
- Song Hits from Theatreland/Theme from Carnival (2007 Album by Mantovani and His Orchestra)
- Kiss Me Kate (1953 Musical Film)
- Hollywood Musicals of the '50s (1996 Film, TV & Radio Film)
