KISS ME KATE by Cole Porter, Sam and Bella Spewack. Victoria Palace. To 24 Au
London
KISS ME KATE
by Cole Porter, Sam and Bella Spewack
Victoria Palace Theatre To 24 August 2002
Runs 2hr 50min One interval
TICKETS 020 7834 1317
Review Timothy Ramsden 1 November 2001
Classic musical comes up a shining joy with this superb company of American and British performers.Some musicals have a lot of plot, some have very little. Kiss Me Kate falls into both camps. Strange, but true.
Fred Graham's theatre group mounts a musical Taming of the Shrew, bringing in chunks of Shakespeare's plot-line. Around it is a backstage on/off romance, with a lure of the greasepaint angle and a couple of low-level hoods thrown in for good measure. This is totally purposeful for providing songs and production numbers; entirely pointless as a narrative.
Silliest is the Act Two opening, the big dance number. There's superb movement, adequate singing and orchestration that suggests Bernstein's Jets and Sharks might be just round the corner (they came along less than a decade after Porter's 1948 musical). What is this fiesta of physical energy? Too Darn Hot, a song about the energy-sapping weather.
But the Spewacks provide a fine confection of incidents plus smart dialogue, Porter a bucketful of superb, and superbly characterised, melodies (his lyrics are less consistently impressive). And Michael Blakemore's fresh, witty production makes the most of them. The strongly-sung, battling temperaments of Brent Barrett's Graham and Marin Mazzie's Lilli Vanessi are a joy. It's amazing some recent musical performances passed the singing auditions; Barrett and Mazzie are outstanding by any criterion.
As is Nancy Anderson's Lois Lane in her witty solo Always True to You (in my Fashion), characterised deftly in both voice and movement: a production high-spot. She's well-matched with Michael Berresse, whose Bill Calhoun shows his devotion by serenading her as he swings up the set from floor level to her top-storey dressing-room.
Teddy Kempner and, supremely, Jack Chissick shine comically as the helpful hoods who set out to collect a gambling debt, and after two acts of quoting the knowledge they've gained in prison libraries end up exhorting us to brush up our Shakespeare.
As who wouldn't, if it were always this much fun?
Hattie: Kaye E. Brown
Ralph : Alan Vicary
Lois Lane/ Bianca : Nancy Anderson
Bill Calhoun/ Lucentio: Michael Berresse
Lilli Vanessi/ Katharine: Marin Mazzie/ Carolee Carmello 3-29 June/ Rachel York 1 July-24 August
Dance Captain/ Gregory: Christopher Stewart
Fred Graham/ Petruchio : Brent Barrett
Harry Trevor / Baptista : Colin Farrell
Pops : Duncan Smith
Cab Driver : Andrew Spillett
First Man : Teddy Kempner
Second Man : Jack Chissick
Harrison Howell : Nicolas Colicos
Gremio : Nick Winston
Hortensio : Barry McNeil
Nathaniel : Andrew Spillett
Philip : Phillip Sutton
Haberdasher: Richard Sidaway
New cast due from 26 August 2002
Director : Michael Blakemore
Choreographer: Kathleen Marshall
Musical Supervision: Paul Gemignani
Musical Director : Gareth Valentine
Designer : Robin Wagner
Costumes : Martin Pakledinaz
Lighting : Peter Kaczorowski
Orchestrations : Don Sebesky
2001-11-05 01:45:08