KISS ME, KATE - AT THE ADC
Too darn hot? I’ll say. This production of Cole Porter’s classic 1948 musical sizzles sending the theatrical temperature sky high. In a musical that has everything, the cast gave it all they got – and that was a lot. It has an epic feel at nearly three hours but every moment is pure delight. Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club has scrubbed this 70+ year old musical feast and made it look brand new. It fizzed with youthful energy but more importantly benefited from tight direction and outstanding choreography. Perhaps the most successful ingredient in the show was the talent, in depth, of the large cast.
Where to start? For those who don’t know Kiss Me, Kate (notice the important comma), this is a show within a show. The shtick is that we are in an off-Broadway try out of a musical version of the Bard’s Taming of the Shrew. The leading actors, Fred and Lilli are a divorced couple who though bickering still have something going. Their paring in the Shakespeare – the braggartly Petruchio and the waspish Kate are mirrored in their offstage personas. It is a brilliantly clever device.
The whole success of this Broadway musical is that we believe and care about the fractious pair. And here we certainly do. Jude Ashcroft as Fred made a thoroughly convincing actor/manager with a giant ego and more than a soft spot for his ex. He also plays Petruchio – the bully who comes to ‘wife it wealthily in Padua’. He does so with sure footed aplomb and there is real weight behind this young player’s performance. There were moments of fury as Lilli seems to love another but also of affecting tenderness as in his beautiful Porter melody ‘So in Love’. Whether in Fred’s 1940s dressing gown or Petruchio’s doublet and hose, he commanded the stage whenever on it.
And so to April Perrot as Lilli ‘behind stage’ and the eponymous Kate during the Shakespearian scenes (pretty much as written by the Swan of Avon). I haven’t seen a better Kate in many decades of theatregoing and Cole Porter-loving. She is the full works; great soprano voice, depth of character and a star-like command of the stage. She was hilarious in her many moments of angry gurning as the both the shrieking Shrew and the two-timed lover. She was brittle and vulnerable when the part demanded it. Fred and Lilli were indeed both Wunderbar!
But they didn’t take anything away from the rest of the cast. Lydia Seed did an astonishingly good job as Kate’s sister Bianca and offstage flirt Lois. Her powerful rendition of ‘Always True to You Darling in My Fashion’ almost stole the entire show. The two comic gangsters who deliver the ever-wonderful ‘Brush up your Shakespeare’ were played with immense fun and Runyonesque ribaldry by Rosie McLeish and Christian Longstaff. Their delivery of Porter’s cheeky and often salacious lyrics in which men are urged to quote from the Bard to win over the lasses, was done with style and great humour.
With the clever and witty book by Bella and Sam Spewack, and Cole Porter’s brilliantly sharp lyrics, this is a show to enjoy words as well as the great tunes. But that’s not all. The production is packed with dance numbers – beginning with ‘Another Opening Another Show’ and later ‘Too Darn Hot’. The troupe was a constant joy to behold. ‘Offstage’ in their 40s shorts or slacks, or ‘onstage’ in their Elizabethan garb, their brilliant steps combined with wonderful expressions. The dancing was exhilarating, sexy and very creative. Top marks to choreographer and co-director Gina Stock.
One of the perennial challenges with the post-war musical is the misogyny of the Shakespeare. This is especially sensitive in the song sung at the end by Kate in which as a woman she is seen to bow to man’s authority. How to make that fit to 21st century sensibilities? The answer was that Kate (aka Perrot) sings the song with winks and nods to the female chorus who knowingly return her inner thoughts of ‘we shall see about that’. It was all done with great subtlety and fine judgement. A perfect solution.
Apart from a few wobbles in the otherwise excellent band, it is hard to find fault with this production. It is on until the 25 March and I urge all lovers of great musicals to go and enjoy it. Tickets fully deserve to be hot, darn hot.
