Kiss Me, Kate

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For the British sitcom, see Kiss Me Kate.

Kiss Me Kate (CD cover)
Broadway Show
Image:Kiss-Me-Kate-stage.jpg

Theatre	New Centruy Theatre (1948 - 1950) and Shubert Theatre (1950 - 1951)
Opening Night	30 December 1948
Tony Nominations	5
Tony Awards	5
Author(s)	Music and lyrics by Cole Porter; book by Bella Spewack and Samuel Spewack
Director	John C. Wilson
Leading Original Cast Members	Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison
Closing Night	28 July 1951

Kiss Me, Kate is a stage musical by Samuel and Bella Spewack (book) and Cole Porter (music and lyrics) that ran for 1,077 performances and was first performed in New York on December 30, 1948. It was made into a popular 1953 MGM musical film (see below). It is roughly based on William Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew, where the main characters are actors in a stage production of that play — the show within a show oeuvre.

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 a terrible accident in 1937 which left him in continuous 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 was in fact his biggest hit, receiving five Tony awards in 1949 (and again in its revival in 2000), and the only Cole Porter musical to have more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.

1 Synopsis
2 Kiss Me Kate. MGM Musical Film
3 Musical numbers
4 See also
5 External links

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Synopsis

Kiss Me Kate tells the tale of two once-married, now-divorced musical theater actors, Fred Grahame and Lilli Vannessi, who are performing opposite each other in a Broadway-bound musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, in the roles of Petruchio and Katharina. Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war midperformance when Lilli discovers Fred sent his latest fling (and the show's Bianca), Lois Lane, Lilli's wedding bouquet. The only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters: Lois's steady boyfriend (and the show's Lucentio), Bill Calhoun, loves to gamble, and to avoid the responsibility of paying his debts, he claimed to be Fred, and this show will provide the money Fred needs to avoid getting his fingers broken. In classic musical comedy fashion, madness ensues, and both pairs of lovers ultimately reconcile.

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Kiss Me Kate. MGM Musical Film

Image:Kiss-Me-Kate-film.jpg It was made into a film musical in 1953 by MGM, starring Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson (as a divorced couple), Ann Miller and Tommy Rall (as a courting couple / specialty dancers), Keenan Wynn, and James Whitmore (as gangsters). Also featuring Bob Fosse, Carol Haney, Bobby Van and Jeanne Coyne as specialty dancers. It was filmed in 3-D using the most advanced methods of that technique, then available. Devotees of the stereoscopic 3-D medium usually cite this film as one of the best examples of a Hollywood release in polarized 3D.