Pierrot Productions revives the Cole Porter favorite at the Kelsey Theatre at Mercer County Community College.
By: Stuart Duncan
By all accounts, the opening night of Kiss Me, Kate in December 1948 was a high spot of the theater season.
Leading man Alfred Drake was still riding high on his triumph in Oklahoma years earlier, although his subsequent appearances had been failures. Co-star Patricia Morrison had not been on Broadway in 10 years and Hollywood had not taken advantage of her talents. And composer Cole Porter had never fully recovered from a riding accident a decade earlier one that would leave him in pain the rest of his life.
But the critics left no doubt as to the show’s success, writing spectacular reviews. The demand for tickets was so heavy that rumors told of $100 being offered, under the counter, for choice locations. In fact, there was talk of an investigation. No matter the demand continued.
One of the little-known facts about the show is the choice of a title. During rehearsals the working title was simply Shrew!, then the producers noticed that on one page of lyrics Cole Porter had written "Kiss Me, Kate." They turned out to be some words Porter was thinking of for a finale, and the actual words were taken from Act V of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. It seemed like a perfect title, and so it became.
The show is being revived by Pierrot Productions at the Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Community College. The voices are superb but the performance takes a full three hours, much longer than needed.
For some reason, productions at Kelsey insist on using sets that invariably take minutes to assemble. Moreover, director Pete LaBriola has shunned the use of "crossovers" or, as the ancients called it, "in one" scenes staged in front of the curtain while stagehands are wrestling the set into place behind. It is not to be with this show. We have everything done right in front of us while we wait minutes for the next scene. Thank goodness for musical director Lou Woodruff and a very nice 18-piece orchestra to cover the scene shifts.
Thank goodness also for fine performances by Joyce LaBriola in the role of leading lady and Shrew, and Sean Downing as leading man and Petruchio. Both can sing up a storm and whack Sam and Bella Spewack’s laugh lines across the footlights with gusto. Kurt Penney and Norman Politziner have a delicious time as the pair of syndicate goons. Lisa Slavin plays the Lois Lane/Bianca role with style. The best dancer in the company, Jennifer Housell, plays the part of Rhonda, the stage manager, but manages to insert herself into a few of the ensemble numbers, thereby adding spice.
Director LaBriola never met an encore he didn’t like, and this show has been adding them ever since the second night in New York. That doesn’t mean, however, that they are earned every time. At the end of three hours, better to think about cutting some. The Broadway show ran 2 hours and 30 minutes.
It also missed most of the important awards in theater that season. Seems that a show called South Pacific opened a few months later and grabbed the statuettes.
Kiss Me, Kate continues at the Kelsey Theatre, Mercer County Community College, 1200 Old Trenton Road, West Windsor, through May 4. Performances: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $14, $12 seniors, $10 students/children. For information, call (609) 584-9444. On the Web: www.kelseyatmccc.org

