Kiss Me, Kate

Dance ensemble Photo: Amanda Tipton

Porter and his librettists, Sam and Bella Spewack, designed their musical as a play-within-a-play, with a contemporary divorced couple, both musical theatre actors, playing opposite each other in a Broadway touring production of The Taming of the Shrew, creating a comedic dynamic between their personal and professional lives.

Emily Brockway as Lilli/Kate and Jonathan Hays as Fred/Petruchio Photo: Amanda Tipton

The parallel and reflective plot lines (Emily Brockway playing Lilli Vanessi, the actress, and Katherine, the role, with Jonathan Hays playing Fred Graham, the actor, and Petruchio, the role) fold back nicely with Shake-speare's original material borrowed from his own life, with Kate and Petruchio's relationship a fictionalized version of the playwright's real-life sister and brother-in-law,<1> (as well as a knock on the Stratford man <2>) although Cole Porter's inspiration was the behind-the-scences behavior of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in their 1935 production of The Taming of the Shrew.

Jonathan Hays as Fred/Petruchio and Lauren Gemelli as Lois/Bianca Photo: Amanda Tipton

The hilarious events that ensue are topped off by Porter's terrific score, including such hits as "Wunderbar," "So in Love," "Too Darn Hot," "Always True to You in My Fashion," "From This Moment On," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," and more.

With their divorce still fresh in their hearts and minds, Lilli and Fred are, nevertheless troopers above all, and continue to perform opposite each other, because "The show must go on!" This does not limit the snide reparte between the two, as they trade off bulls-eye zingers to each other's egos and emotions, much as Kate and Petruchio do. Lilli lays into Fred for the affair he's having with Lois Lane (played by Lauren Gemelli), the comely ingenue, Bianca, in the Shake-speare production. Fred's cutting remarks about Lilli's acting and her contract—she's got top billing—drive her out of the rehearsal.

Jonathan Hays as Fred/Petruchio and Emily Brockway as Lilli/Kate singing "Wunderbar" Photo: Amanda Tipton

There is obviously still some heat in Lilli and Fred's fiery interplay, as we see in their next encounter when the door between their back-to-back dressing rooms is open and they break into a favorite song, "Wunderbar." The palpable chemistry between Brockway and Hays, as well as their superb voices, underscore and amplify the intensity of their verbal and physical sparring as well as their tender reminiscing through song which, in this case, ends in a kiss.

Their reconciliation looks to be gaining steam until flowers with a note that Fred previously asked to be sent to Lois for opening night are given to Lilli by mistake, precipitating a series of attempts on Fred's part to retrieve the note before Lilli reads it, to no avail, all of which rekindles Lilli's residual anger from their breakup.

Adelmo Guidarelli and Isaiah Feken as a pair of mobsters Photo: Amanda Tipton

After Lilli reads the note, she threatens to leave the show, putting Fred in a bind, since he owes ten grand (that he used to stage the production) to a couple of mobsters (Adelmo Guidarelli and Isaiah Feken) who put the squeeze on him, forcing Fred to deflect the thugs to Lilli, whose star power will fill the seats and recoup the money. Guidarelli and Feken are a hilarious duo and knock it out of the park in their comedic number, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."

Like Fred, Petruchio is looking for cash and hears of the substantial dowry offered for Kate's marriage by her father (Robert Onuska as Harry Trevor/Baptista), as a means of removing the unmarried, incendiary older sister who serves as an obstacle to the highly sought Bianca and her path to marriage.

Lauren Gemelli as Lois/Bianca and Jeffrey Scott Parsons as Bill Calhoun/Lucentio Photo: Amanda Tipton

Gemelli is a scene stealer as the femme fatale Lois/Bianca, never backing off from her intimate intimations and physical interplay with Fred, despite Fred's attempts to let go and focus his attentions on Lilli. Gemilli's musical numbers and burlesque-flavored dancing bring down the house. Like Bianca with her suitors, Lois plays Bill Calhoun/Lucentio (Jeffrey Scott Parsons) like a yo-yo, drawing him close with her charms and pushing him away when other lovers take priority, highlighted by her stellar rendition of "Always True to You in My Fashion." Parsons' dance and tap numbers are top-notch and top off a talented ensemble of dancers, led by the NU-World Contemporary Danse Theatre.

With these big production numbers (choreographer Daniel Pelzig), plus beautiful costumes (Jeff Mahshie), slick set (Matthew S. Crane), and spot on lighting (Abigail Hoke-Brady), director Ken Cazan dazzles us with a light-hearted yet robust Broadway feel. Adam Turner and the full-bodied Festival Orchestra fill the hall with a lush rendition of Porter's memorable score.

Jonathan Hays as Fred/Petruchio and Emily Brockway as Lilli/Kate Photo: Amanda Tipton

It's also worth noting that Porter and the librettists defuse the 16th-century chauvinism in The Taming of the Shrew—(ameliorated only by playing it as a farce and having Petruchio, not Kate, kneel at the end) that is embedded in Shake-speare's original script—by setting their musical in the 20th century and making Lizzi the headliner. In addition, their Kiss Me, Kate stage directions for the final scene, which is also the final scene in The Taming of the Shrew, has Petruchio kneel and has Kate flash Bianca a conspiratorial wink and Bianca give her the OK sign in return, leaving the question of who accomodated whom open to interpretation.

Central City Opera's production of Kiss Me, Kate runs through Saturday, August 5th, in repertory with Romeo and Juliet and Othello. For tickets: centralcityopera.org.

Footnotes

<1> The original inspiration for Kate and Petruchio comes from the courtship and early marriage of Edward de Vere's fiery sister Mary to the rollicking Peregrine Bertie, which are only slightly exaggerated here. The playwright later borrowed on this same coupling in Twelfth Night. In the latter play, Maria is (like Mary de Vere) a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Maria is greeted in her first scene by, "Bless you, fair shrew." In real life, Bertie brags she is tamed: "She's a beagle true bred and one that adores me."

<2> It's also worth noting that the Induction in the original script by Edward de Vere (one of his pen names being "Shake-speare," as it first appeared in print) that precedes the play, which is often excised from productions by those who see it as a non-sequitur (from the Stratford viewpoint), is actually a commentary by de Vere on how a shill—whose name was used as a ruse (i.e., a front or mask, like the contrived Droeshout engraving of "Shakespeare" in the First Folio) to present the plays for someone who could not write for attribution—came to usurp the rightful owner, as we explained in the addendum to last week's review of Romeo and Juliet.

Bob Bows