Kiss Me Kate

This year we revisit one of the sublime Broadway classics. For more than 50 years audiences have been delighted by this clever musical, which switches between an onstage performance of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and some priceless shenanigans backstage involving the leading actors: a divorced but still-in-love theatrical couple, a helpless flirt and her dance partner (an incurable gambler), and a couple of showbiz-savvy gangsters called in to collect a gambling debt, and finding themselves unexpectedly in the limelight. Cole Porter's brilliant score created some instant classics, familiar to lovers of musical theatre: among these are the exuberant "Another Openin', Another Show", the steamy "Too Darn Hot" which opens Act 2, the rather naughty "Tom, Dick and Harry" (once banned for radio play in the US), the irreverent, sexy and verbally mischievous "Always True to You Darling (In My fashion)". And, of course, one of the great show tunes of all time, "Brush Up Your Shakespeare". There are plenty more where these came from too. The reviewer for the New York Times of the 1999 Revised Version (the one you will be seeing) says it all really: "Kiss Me Kate is again revealed to be what it has always been: an elegant, nimble dream of a show, one of the rare perfect achievements of the American Musical Theatre." This is truly a show that works on various levels, and delivers something for everyone. Evenings at 7.30pm August 23 | 24 | 26 | 27 Evening at 6.30pm August 25 Afternoon at 2.00pm August 27 Adult $30.00 | Concession $15.00 Adamson Theatre, Wesley College St Kilda Road