Kiss Me, Kate
Opening Night: March 14, 2019
Closing: June 30, 2019
Theater: Studio 54
Two divorced — and flamboyantly egocentric — performers find themselves starring opposite each other in a musical version of Taming of the Shrew in Cole Porter and Sam and Bella Spewack’s tribute to the theatre, in all its greasepaint and glory. In the constellation of musical comedy masterpieces, Kiss Me, Kate shines as perhaps Broadway’s most sparkling achievement. This is the winner of the first-ever Tony Award for Best Musical, alive with onstage romance, backstage passion, comedy high and low, and a stylish, sexy, sophisticated songbook that includes “Too Darn Hot,” “So In Love” and “Always True To You In My Fashion.” Once again, Roundabout catapults you to musical comedy heaven, with a brand-new Kiss Me, Kate.
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March 14, 2019
I raise all this marital prehistory not to excuse the elements of the original “Kiss Me, Kate” that rankle our sensibilities today — its gender stereotypes and wife-slapping argument for womanly submission — but to suggest how the latest Broadway revival, which opened on Thursday in a production starring the sublime Kelli O’Hara, could be so enjoyable anyway.
READ THE REVIEWMarch 14, 2019
That’s just one of the smart shifts Ellis and company have made with this fresh Kiss Me, Kate. Gone is the shiny schmaltz of the Golden Age musical’s previous productions, Ellis instead grounding the piece, when necessarily, in sincerity and reality. “Another Op’nin’, Another Show”, led by Adrienne Walker’s soulful voice, now feels as a passionate rallying cry for artists everywhere embracing their craft. Even the costume designer Jeff Mahshie and set designer David Rockwell colorful creations seem to be slightly restrained.
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March 14, 2019
The clever navigation of this Golden Age musical through today’s waters of gender politics is one of several plusses in an otherwise uneven production that is still able to score some highs in terrific dancing, Kelli O’Hara’s performance and, oh, those Porter songs.
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March 14, 2019
For me, the production takes full flight with “I Hate Men,” about midway through the first act, when O’Hara (as Lilli as Shrew‘s Kate) delivers a full throated and beautifully arch takedown of what later generations would simply call patriarchy. “Kate” delivers this song with utter conviction – no sense of the I’m just a silly girl spouting off that earlier productions might have presented. In fact, despite some script doctoring by the talented composer-lyricist Amanda Green (she performed similar updating duties on her father Adolph Green’s On the Twentieth Century for a 2015 Roundabout revival), this Kiss Me, Kate feels as modern as anything from ’48 can. The updates seem mostly in tone and performance (and thankfully so – a “guns don’t kill people” joke proves just how hokey these explicit updates can be; better is Kate’s late-show song “I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple” shifting to “I Am Ashamed That People Are So Simple”).
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March 14, 2019
But this is an immensely pleasurable show even in a production that occasionally lacks spark. The enjoyment is enhanced by David Rockwell’s sets, from the backstage area and dressing rooms to the old-fashioned painted flats and backcloths of the Baltimore run; by Jeff Mahshie’s colorful costumes, with some gorgeous outfits for O’Hara; by Donald Holder’s vibrant lighting; and Larry Hochman’s sumptuous orchestrations for 15 musicians, led with customary finesse by Paul Gemignani.
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