Kiss Me, Kate

Even if you’ve never seen Cole Porter’s madcap musical; ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ - you’re sure to know many of the songs.  The performance opens with the foot tapping, “Another Openin’, Another Show”, Act II with “Too Darn Hot”, Blending tender ballads, jazz and operetta. The original 1948 production ran for over 1,000 performances and won a Tony Award for ‘Best Musical’.

This is a story of a show within a show, we are witnessing Fred Graham’s theatre company staging a musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy, ‘The Taming of The Shrew’.   Amongst the excitement and tension of opening night we get mounds of drama and dangerous liaisons taking place on and off stage.

The melange of scenery and costumes were clearly a revived assembly from past shows and pantomimes although looking a little miss match, managed to do the job.

Mike Daws and Liz Knutton as Bill & Lois were the two most comfortable people to watch, they both had charisma and chemistry together though at times, Liz seemed reluctant to look out front blocking engagement between her character and the audience.  It’s clear that Mike has experience of being on stage and demonstrated a competent all round performance.

The two gangsters played by Stephen Clayton & Sid Smith worked well together and bounced off each other enhancing the production with plenty of chuckles in each of their scenes.

Chris Simmons & Lisa McDonald as Fred & Lilli were confident, brassy and fiery. Both had prepared well though during tonight’s performance both battled with vocal support and technique. 

The ensemble requires vivacious energy for this show particularly during “Too Darn Hot” which is famous for being an ardent showstopper.  More attention from the Musical Director was needed in places as many entrances were lazy if not missed entirely. 

Technically, this show has ample opportunity to create some moody and atmospheric lighting, particularly during the backstage and alley scenes, instead; the lights were only ever simply on or off.

This musical is quickly finding itself in the ‘dated’ category, up there with the likes of ‘Brigadoon’ & ‘Finians Rainbow’, don’t get me wrong, I’m equally as fond of the golden oldies as much as I am of the high energy juke box shows, I just feel particular revivals need to find ways of being presented for an audience of today, breathing a new lease of life into them rather than trying to pay homage to what they once were.

Thank you for your hospitality and I look forward to January’s Panto!

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