Kiss Me Kate

Synopsis

Award-winning director, Trevor Nunn returns to The Old Vic to direct the dazzling, Tony award-winning, Broadway classic, Kiss Me, Kate.

Featuring music and lyrics by Cole Porter, including "Too Darn Hot", "Brush up your Shakespeare" and "Another Op’nin, Another Show", this exuberant show-within-a-show throws together gun-toting gangsters, sparring actors and romantic entanglements against a backdrop of a musical production of Taming of the Shrew.
 
The 35 strong cast and band includes Alex Bourne, David Burt, Adam Garcia, Clive Rowe and Hannah Waddingham, with choreography by Stephen Mear. 

Book tickets now for this great Cole Porter show, coming to London after an acclaimed run in Chichester.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 28 November 2012

There’s nothing but pleasure to be had from Trevor Nunn’s staging of Kiss Me Kate, seen earlier this summer at Chichester and now installed as ideal holiday entertainment at the Old Vic.

It’s quite a long evening, nearly three hours, but the stateliness suits the show’s construction and also the deliberation with which Fred Graham (Alex Bourne) and his company of actors are preparing a try-out performance of a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew one hot summer afternoon in Baltimore.

Ironically, the one really frenzied number, “Too Darn Hot,” which opens the second act, suggests the opposite of the lassitude overtaking the backstage effort; and it’s executed with dazzling ensemble brilliance in Stephen Mear’s choreography, led by the irrepressible Jason Pennycooke as Fred’s crackerjack dresser.

Aside from these ten electrifying minutes, Cole Porter’s music and lyric...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 18 January 2013:

Kiss Me Kate is probably my favourite of the older 'classical' musicals and this Chichester production does it full justice. The last revival was a much praised Brodway transfer but this might be even better. Predictably Trevor Nunn has taken great care over the mock Shakespearean scenes which emphasises the parallels between the actors and their characters. Gareth Valentine provides terrific musical direction and Stephen Mears has choreographed a couple of superb showcases for a superb ensemble. Adam Garcia is underused but does get one chance to display his unbelievable tap skills in one great routine and Too Darn Hot builds from a langorous start to a fantastic climax. The biggest improvement on the last revival is the genuine chemistry between the two leads. Alex Bourne is a new name to me but he proves to be the ideal leading man for the astounding Hannah Waddingham who offers a virtuoso demonstration of her vocal range and acting skills as Lilli / Kate. If this is her farewell to London before she leaves for Australia she couldn't go with a better reminder of her enviable talent and in a show that showcases it to the full....

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