Review of Kiss Me, Kate, Opera North, Leeds Grand Theatre

COLE Porter's frothy musical comedy revolves around the rehearsals and opening night of a musical version of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The delectable musical score was composed in a myriad of different styles and it undoubtedly merits the full operatic treatment. By which I mean the orchestral, vocal and technical resources that an opera company is able to channel into a classic stage musical.

Opera and musical theatre frequently overlap. So one of the most challenging tasks of the production director is to assemble a finely balanced cast of singing actors. My only reservation about Jo Davies' otherwise sizzling new production is the casting of Dutch baritone Quirijn De Lang as Fred Graham, and soprano Jeni Bern as Lilli Vanessi. Both have sumptuous operatic voices - their romantic duet Wunderbar is elegantly sung and Lang's Where is the Life that Late I Led is laced with wit and irony. Bern, as Kate, almost spits with scorn in I Hate Men but she doesn't exude enough sex appeal. Lang, for me, lacks the charisma that Fred Graham and his altar ego Petruchio needs in spadefuls.

Musical theatre specialists Ashley Day as Bill Calhoun and Tiffany Graves as Lois Lane were more convincing. Day is a fantastic hoofer. His electrifying dance sequence in the song, Bianca, very nearly stopped the show. John Savournin and Joseph Shovelton portray the inept debt-collecting hitmen whose witty song Brush up your Shakespeare was an absolute hoot.

Colin Richmond's costume and flexible set designs wonderfully depict both the sweat-drenched backstage atmosphere and the opulent Shakespeare-period finery of the on-stage performances of The Shrew. The huge number of scenes flow beautifully, illuminated as they are by explosions of energy from Will Tuckett's scorching choreography.

Musically speaking, the production could scarcely be in more expert hands than those of American conductor David Charles Abell at the helm of the ever-versatile Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North. Abell has created a "critical edition" of the score based largely on the re-discovered orchestra parts used in the original Broadway production from 1948-51. He has even reinstated seventeen bars of five-sax swing in Too Darn Hot, and a brilliant tap-dance routine written for the original London production.

Reservations aside, for unstoppable energy and for superlative musical values, Opera North's new Kiss Me, Kate will take some beating. In fact, this show is Too Darn Hot to miss!

More performances at Leeds Grand on October 3, 21, 30 and 31.

by Geoffrey Mogridge