There is nothing quite like a Cole Porter musical to get your toes tapping. The musical Anything Goes immediately comes to mind when thinking of Cole Porter’s voluminous songbook. Delivering the same melodious punch, but perhaps not as well known, is Kiss Me, Kate, the musical version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew currently bringing audiences to their feet at Central City Opera.
Sandwiched between two operas, also with a Shakespearean theme, Central City Opera has mounted Kiss Me, Kate, directed by Ken Cazan, with a truly jubilant production. With music and lyrics by Porter and book by Sam and Bella Spewack, everything works from the first note to the last.
The story is rather simple: There is the bickering couple, egotistical Fred Graham (Jonathan Hays) and his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi (Emily Brockway), now a big-time movie star, being brought together to perform for their adoring public a stage production of The Taming of the Shrew. Fred also happens to be the producer, director and star of the show, which only makes Lilli even more miserable.
Lois Lane (Lauren Gemelli) and Bill Calhoun (Jeffrey Scott Peterson) are secondary players in the company and happen to be madly in love. As we find out, Bill has a bit of a gambling problem and to save his own skin he is known to sign other’s names to an IOU. In come the gangsters (Adelmo Guidarelli and Isaiah Feken) looking for the signatory of Bill’s most recent IOU, which happens to have the signature of none other than his boss, Fred Graham, on it.
As expected, mayhem ensues. Not only is there a play to put on, but Fred has gangsters breathing down his neck and eventually Lilli’s neck as well. Thankfully, there is a happy ending, albeit somewhat controversial by today’s standards, when the starring couple iron out their differences and wed — again!
Leading the production are Hays and Brockway as Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi — a perfectly mismatched couple the likes we haven’t seen since the movie The War of the Roses. Hays is appropriately arrogant, and Brockway is the supreme diva we have come to expect from a star performer. Of course, since the production is at Central City Opera, both perform extraordinary vocals, singing such favorite Porter songs as “I Hate Men,” “Where Is the Life That Late I Led?” “So In Love,” and “I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple.”
As Lois Lane, Gemelli nearly stops the show with her rendition of “Always True to You in My Fashion” while the gangsters, Guidarelli and Feken, bring down the house with their swan song “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” And I cannot fail to mention the marvelous chorus with such memorable tunes as “Another Opening, Another Show,” and “Too Darn Hot.”
Cazan has directed Kiss Me, Kate affectionately with its memorable music and hysterical book in mind — indeed, laughs abound almost non-stop for nearly three hours. Cazan, having been at the helm of many recent Central City Opera Broadway musical performances, has delivered yet another winner with this one.
It is a colorful production with sets designed by Matthew S. Crane and original costumes by Jeff Mashie. Both provide eye-appealing elements to the play, as well as the play within a play.
Kiss Me, Kate is a classic Broadway musical and one that has been lovingly revived by Central City Opera during its 2023 festival season featuring the works of William Shakespeare. Audiences will not be disappointed.
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