'Kiss Me, Kate' at the Westchester Broadway Theatre - My Review

Pia Haas is the lovely Director of Press and Public Relations at Westchester Broadway Theatre. She wrote the "About 'Kiss Me, Kate'" for the program of the Cole Porter musical that is running at the dinner theater in Elmsford, NY that is a ninety minute drive from the Waterbury area. She notes that Mr. Porter created "what no on deemed possible: a musical comedy that successfully integrated the world of Shakespeare with the sounds of Broadway." The composer himself was not sure that supplying lyrics to a Shakespearean play, specifically The Taming of the Shrew, could even be done. Seventeen songs later, Mr. Porter grew to view this show with special affection and would later quip "Somebody said that Kiss Me, Kate was the perfect musical, and I agree with them."

I would certainly agree that  the songs are lush with some very clever rhyming lyrics. The script by Bella and Samuel Spewack is about a former husband and wife acting team at war while trying to stage a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew in the late forties and it can be very witty. Because almost all of the actors play the actor playing the role in the Shakespearean play, it makes for a doubly long cast page in the program. I recently watched the 1953 movie version which introduced a young dancer name Bob Fosse; watching this gifted choreographer at the beginning of his career was the best part of the movie for me. "Perfect" may be too strong a word for this musical, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Some of the musical numbers were familiar to me, including "Wunderbar", "Always True To You In My Fashion",  and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." The staging of "Too Darned Hot" and "I Hate Men" was especially fine in this production. The costumes by Derek Lockwood were period-appropriate when the characters were dressed for backstage in the forties as well as when they performed the play within a play in Italy. The hair/wigs by Gerard Kelly were also very well done. John Farrell's set switched between the two eras easily and the lighting designed by Andrew Gmoser was noticeably precise.

Ms. Haas had warned me that Christianne Tisdale had left the show for medical reasons and would be replaced by Jeannie Shubitz at this performance. Considering that this was Ms. Shubitz's opening night in the lead role of Lilli Vanessi/Katherine, she did very well. She displayed a very powerful voice and was a convincing shrew; we could overlook when she missed a few dance cues and had some trouble with a headpiece. The rest of the cast worked like a well-oiled machine around her because the quality of WBT productions rivals that of actual Broadway shows.

William Michals appeared on Broadway in the role of The Beast in Beauty and the Beast and later returned to play the role of Gaston in the same production. Here he is a triple threat as Fred/Petruchio; we never got tired of his wonderful singing voice. Missy Dowse was a joy to watch as Lois Lane/ Bianca while Brian Ogilve played her boyfriend Bill/Lucentio.

All three of Bianca's suitors in the Shakespeare piece were very good: they included Darrell T. Joe as Gremio, Kyle Erickson Hewitt as Hortensio, and Mr. Ogilvie in his other role as Lucentio.

Michael Farina and Michael Kubala as the bumbling Gangsters 2 & 1 respectively were very funny without going over the top; combined with terrific staging, these two brought "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" to a new high. The ensemble did a wonderful job with various roles. Christopher C. Fishburne was a stand out, especially in "Too Darn Hot,"  and also played the role of Paul.

I enjoyed the chicken cacciatore entree that came with my complimentary tickets and my young companion tried the pork roast with all the trimmings. We sat at a table for two high up in the rows in front of the stage near the luxury boxes named for Broadway composers. There were 250 people in the audience and a fifty-fifty raffle was held to raise money to subsidies reduced ticket prices for deserving groups.

As announced by blogger Jerry Eimbinder in his review of the original cast of this production, WBT has announced their 2014 season.

The 2014 play list

Titanic January 16 to February 23

Ragtime February 27 to May 5

Mary Poppins May 8 to July 27

The Wizard of Oz July 31 to September 24

South Pacific September 25 - November 30, December 21 to January 11