KISS ME KATE
CENTRAL CITY OPERA:
July 1 – August 5
(in repertoire with Gounod’s ROMEO AND JULIET and Rossini’s OTHELLO)
Jonathan Hays and Emily Brockway (photo: Amanda Tipton)
DIRECTOR KEN CAZAN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!
Cazan has directed all the Broadway shows that have been featured at Central City Opera over the last decade, as well as all but two of Benjamin Britten’s prolific canon. (Cazan’s direction of Britten’s “Billy Budd” and “Gloriana” received critical acclaim internationally.)
Regarding his direction of the American Musicals, Cazan has helmed productions of everything from “West Side Story” and “Oklahoma” to “A Little Night Music” and this year’s “Kiss Me, Kate.”
With book by Bella and Samuel Spewack and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, KISS ME KATE won the first Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as for Best Score and Best Script in 1949.
Some of the perennial favorites from the Cole Porter song book are: “Wunderbar,” “Another Openin’ , Another Show,” “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” “Always True to You in My Fashion,” “So In Love,” and “Too Darn Hot.”
This musical involves a production of “The Taming of the Shrew” and a conflict onstage and off between the director and star of the show, Fred Graham, and ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. There is a subplot involving the actress playing Lois Lane/ Bianca and her boyfriend, Bill Calhoun/Lucentio.
Emily Brockway and Jonathan Hays
(photo: Amanda Tipton)
The book is inspired by the relationship of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane, who were “real life battling actors in the 1936 production of “The Taming of the Shrew.”
Emily Brockway is luminous as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine! Her singing of “So in Love” is powerfully seductive and spellbinding! The duets Ms. Brockway sings with Mr. Hays, “From This Moment On,” and “Wunderbar,” are both auditory champagne!
Jonathan Hays portrays Fred Graham/ Petruchio with stunning panache and great good humor! His singing of “Were Thine That Special Face” and the hilarious “Where is the Life That Once I Led?” were crowd pleasers indeed!
L-R: Isaiah Feken and Adelmo Guidarelli(photo: Amanda Tipton) The two gangsters, played with broad strokes of humor by Adelmo Guidarelli and Isaiah Feken, give us the hilarious vaudeville hijinks of “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” with polish and flair. Always a hysterical moment in this show, these two comics make it the genuine showstopper it was meant to be!
The dancers of Nu-World Contemporary Dance Theatre stun in their sizzling delivery of “Too Darn Hot!” As the cast waits in the alley between acts, they perform a number you will never forget! Part ballet and part modern jazz dancing spiced up with a good deal of tap-dance, this scene is exhilarating beyond the beyonds!!!!
The well thought out traditional set design by Matthew S. Crane and eye-popping costumes by Jeff Mahshie are spot on!
Daniel Pelzig’s choreography is a breathtaking delight from start to finish.
Conductor Adam Turner elicits the sweet sounds of Cole Porter’s award-winning score from the sensational Central City Opera orchestra to ear-pleasing perfection.
BRAVI TUTTI!!!!!
THIS SHOW IS NOT TO BE MISSED! RUN TO GET TICKETS!
For tickets call the box office at 303-292-6700 or go online at centralcityopera.org
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