2000: Kiss Me, Kate revival - LONG overdue!

after a super super fun weekend in philly, i was greeted by a monday of all mondays. it was one of those days when the first half of the day i had absolutely nothing to do (and didn't even have Playbill Radio to keep me sane)...and then the second half of the day exploded with work. at least we finally found a replacement for me!! which means that the next two weeks are going to be absolute hell, especially when i'll be working two jobs at once. yeeeeah, stressfest central right here.

...though showtunes always put me in a better mood. today, we'll talk about a revival. *GASP* a broadwaytimetravel first! now, although i do think that revivals are clearly produced to be huge lazy money-makers (no one needs to write a book & score, and it's usually a musical that most people are familiar with...example: after Les Miserables finally closed in 2003, they decided to produce a revival...three years later), most of them tend to serve as a way to celebrate and appreciate past musical genius. and a revival of this 1948 production (yes, it had been over 50 years) had been LONG overdue. let's cut to the chase:

yes. the Cole Porter classic show-within-a-show: Kiss Me, Kate. first, let's share some background info from the original (and yes, i promise that when i pick 1948 to write about, i'll try not to repeat myself). now Cole Porter...what a badass he was. in 1947, after spitting out some semi-successful musicals (Gay Divorce, Fifty Million Frenchman, Anything Goes), he basically got pounced on by a horse he was riding that crushed most of his body to shreds. he remained mostly crippled for the rest of his life. immediately after the injury, he continued to write through constant pain, throwing out a few musicals that really didn't go anywhere (but give the guy a break...he just got pwned by a freaking one ton horse). then, in response to his Broadway rivals Rodgers & Hammerstein shoving Oklahoma! in his face a few years back, he had to produce something that had potential to knock everyone's socks off. so he wrote Kiss Me, Kate, his biggest hit ever, and it ran for more than 1,000 performances. while his entire body was pretty much paralyzed. no big deal. at the FIRST annual Tony Awards that year, he took home the award for Best Musical...and proceeded to rub it in R&H's faces. obviously, the original showcased Alfred Drake (huge Broadway star of Oklahoma! [imagine that], Kismet, and Babes in Arms) and the diva-tastic Patricia Morison (i mean, just look at her):



di. va. anyways (you know how distracted i get with divas), Cole-meister wrote some pretty iconic songs for this show, including (but not limited to):
"Another Op'nin', Another Show" (the weirdest spelling of 'opening' i've ever seen. also see below.)
"Wunderbar" (sprechenzie deutsch?!)
"So In Love" (quite the tear-jerker)
"I Hate Men" (you GO girl! you verbally bitchslap those boys silly.)
"I've Come to Wive it Wealthy in Padua" (that's a tongue twister if i've ever seen one)
"Too Darn Hot" (holy dance number)
"Where is the Life That Late I Lead" (ok Cole, what's up with the tongue twisters. for serious.)
"Always True to You in My Fashion" (yes i'm AL. WAYS. TRUE. TO. YOUUU DAAAARLIN' IN MYY WAAAAY. sorry. i digress)



the list goes on. a hugely popular and iconic show. which is why they waited 51 years to put out a revival. (?!?!) however, this revival does NOT disappoint. at the 2000 Tony's, the revival picked up 5 awards (including Best Revival) out of 12 nominations (the most nominated show of the season). pretty awesome feat for a revival. AND talk about a big night for the director of Kiss Me, Kate, Michael Blakemore. he not only took home a Tony for Best Director of a Musical, but also won Best Director of a Play (Copenhagen). and then he went home and probably made some pretty epic whoopee.


so who, might you ask, could even come close to replacing the great Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison. obviously, two other greats. first one: three words:

BRIAN. STOKES. MITCHELL. with one of the greatest voices to ever step onto a Broadway stage. he played the leading man Fred. other theater credits: the 2002 revival of Man of La Mancha and Kander & Ebb's Kiss of the Spider Woman. and, oh yeah, played Coalhouse in RAGTIME, one of the greatest musicals ever written (performing alongside the already-mentioned diva in this blog Audra McDonald):



he also played Sweeney in the 2002 Kennedy Center revival of Sweeney Todd. AND apparently does lots of voice-overs for cartoons such as Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures. epic.

ANYWAYS, so he performed alongside the great M&M of Broadway: Marin Mazzie (Lilli/Kate), who ALSO starred in Ragtime as Mother. famous for her ridiculously strong voice. her other big Broadway credit: starred in (and was completely nude in the first scene of) Passion, written by God aka Stephen Sondheim (*worship bow*). here's both BSM and M&M singing "So In Love" from Kiss Me, Kate (with introduction by rather large Rosie):



other notable performers:
Amy Spanger (Lois/Bianca) - originated the role of Holly in The Wedding Singer and Shelley in Rock of Ages, was in the movie musical Reefer Madness [badass], and REALLY fun fact: she costarred with RENT sensation Anthony Rapp in the New York Musical Theatre Festival of Feeling Electric...which later became Next to Normal! i love Broadway tidbits.
Michael Berresse (Bill/Lucentio) - Broadway performer, director, and choreographer (talk about talented) - Giuseppe Naccarelli in Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza, Zach in the 2006 revival of A Chorus Line (which i saw in the front row. epic.) AND directed/choreographed [title of show]. so talented.

well, that's all you need to know about the awesome revival of Kiss Me, Kate. ...oh, the plot of the show? hmm. i ran out of space. google it. to end, here's Forbidden Broadway's take on BSM and M&M. GOODNIGHT!