Kiss Me, Kate

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This article is about the stage production. For the film version, see Kiss Me, Kate. For the British sitcom, see Kiss Me Kate.

Kiss Me, Kate is a Tony Award-winning musical with a book by Samuel and Bella Spewack and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It won the first Tony Award for "Best Musical" in 1949.

Inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, it tells the tale of two once-married, now-divorced musical theater actors, Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, who are performing opposite each other in the roles of Petruchio and Katharine in a Broadway-bound musical version of William Shakespeare's play. Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the production's success. The only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters, who have come to collect a gambling debt from the show's Lucentio, Bill Calhoun. In classic musical comedy fashion, slapstick madness ensues before everything is resolved.

After a 3½ week pre-Broadway tryout at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia starting December 2, 1948, the original Broadway production, directed by John C. Wilson and choreographed by Hanya Holm, opened on December 30, 1948 at the New Century Theatre, where it ran for nineteen months before transferring to the Shubert, for a total run of 1077 performances. The original cast included Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang, and Harry Clark.

Kiss Me, Kate was a comeback and a personal triumph for Cole Porter. After several successful musicals in the 1930s, notably Anything Goes, Du Barry Was a Lady, and Panama Hattie, he experienced an equestrian accident in 1937 that left him in constant pain. Following the accident, he continued to write songs and musicals but with limited success, and some thought he was past his prime. Kiss Me, Kate was a response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals, and proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.

A film version of the same name was released in 1953. There have been three television productions, the first on Hallmark Hall of Fame in 1958, with Drake and Morison reprising their Broadway roles, the second in 1968 with then husband-and-wife team Robert Goulet and Carol Lawrence, and the third in 2003 on Great Performances, a taped performance of the London revival with Brent Barrett and Rachel York.

A 1999 Broadway revival at the Martin Beck Theatre, directed by Michael Blakemore and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and Rob Ashford, ran for 881 performances. The opening night cast included Marin Mazzie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Amy Spanger, Michael Berresse, Ron Holgate, Lee Wilkof, and Michael Mulheren.

[edit] Song list

ACT ONE

"Another Op'nin', Another Show"
"Why Can't You Behave?"
"Wunderbar"
"So in Love"
"We Open in Venice"
"Tom, Dick, or Harry"
"I've Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua"
"I Hate Men"
"Were Thine That Special Face"
"Cantiamo D'Amore (We Sing of Love)"
"Kiss Me, Kate"

ACT TWO

"Too Darn Hot"
"Where Is the Life That Late I Led?"
"From This Moment On" (1999 revival only)
"Always True to You in My Fashion"
"Bianca"
"So In Love" - Reprise
"Brush Up Your Shakespeare"
"I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple"
"Kiss Me, Kate" (Reprise)

[edit] Awards and Nominations

Original 1948 Production

Tony Award for Best Musical (winner)
Tony Award for Best Author of a Musical (winner)
Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (winner)
Tony Award for Best Costume Design (winner)
Tony Award for Best Producer of a Musical (winner)

1999 Revival

Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (winner)
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Brian Stokes Mitchell, winner)
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Berresse, Lee Wilkof, and Michael Mulheren, nominees)
Tony Award for Best Scenic Design (nominee)
Tony Award for Best Costume Design (winner)
Tony Award for Best Lighting Design (nominee)
Tony Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (winner)
Tony Award for Best Orchestrations (winner)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Musical (winner)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Brian Stokes Mitchell, winner)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Mulheren and Lee Wilkof, nominees)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography (nominee)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (nominee)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations (winner)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical (winner)
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design (winner)

2001 London Revival

Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production (nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Marin Mazzie, nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Brent Barrett, nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical (Nancy Anderson and Michael Berresse, nominees)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design (nominee)
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design (nominee)
Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical (winner)
Critics Circle Award for Best Musical (winner)