A Kiss for Kate
NEW YORK -- Saw Kiss Me, Kate. Pretty good. Loved the scenery
that opened the second act, showing us the back wall of the
long-ago-razed Ford's Theatre in Baltimore. Nice, isn't it, that Brian
Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie are once again playing the Ford.
Some esteemed critics take issue with Kiss Me, Kate because it
never introduces us to the composer and lyricist of The Taming of
the Shrew: The Musical. Why aren't they around to work on their
show, they ask. And they're right. But that could have been easily
corrected without adding two extra salaries to the budget. Too bad
no one thought of having egomaniacal Fred Graham say, "Once I
buy a musical, I bar the composer and lyricist from the theater.
They can be so disruptive." That's all it would have taken.
Others have railed against the fact that if it's a musical of The
Taming of the Shrew, why does the book sport Shakespearean
dialogue while the lyrics contain anachronsitic references to the
Shuberts, Louis B. Mayer, et al.? Well, maybe this The Taming of
the Shrew: The Musical was just a little ahead of its time. After all,
when the Two Gentlemen of Verona musical was produced in 1971,
it too retained Shakespearean dialogue and used anachronistic
references in song. And that show won a Tony as Best Musical, as
all Follies fans can tell you -- while gritting their teeth. {:-)-:}
by Peter Filichia
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