Kiss Me, Kate (Musical)

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Musical dates
Original title: Kiss me, Kate
Original language: English
Music: Cole Porter
Book: Samuel and Bella Spewack
Lyrics: Cole Porter
Literary source: using " The Taming of the Shrew " by William Shakespeare
Premiere: December 30, 1948
Place of premiere: New York , Century Theater
Playing time: approx. 2½ hours
Place and time of the action: Baltimore
Roles / people
  • Lilli Vanessi / Katharine Minola
  • Fred Graham / Petruchio
  • Lois Lane / Bianca Minola
  • Bill Calhoun / Lucentio
  • General Harrison Howell
  • Harry Trevor / Baptista Minola
  • Ralph (stage manager)
  • among others
  • Choir
  • dancer

Kiss Me, Kate is the best known and most successful musical by Cole Porter , the book is by Samuel and Bella Spewack . The premiere took place on December 30, 1948 at the Century Theater in New York . In the German-speaking area, the musical is shown in a translation by Berlin cabaret artist Günter Neumann from the 1950s - in film, TV and on some stages in Germany under the title “Kiss me, Kätchen!” , Otherwise mostly with Neumann's text but the original title.

content

Kiss Me, Kate is about a theater company that performs a musical version of Shakespeare's " The Taming of the Shrew "; so it is to be seen a “piece in a piece”. The producer, Fred Graham , cast the male lead in Shakespeare's play, "Petrucchio", with himself. He hired his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi for the female lead, the stubborn "Katharina" . Lilli is engaged to the play's sponsor, Harrison Howell , and Fred has an affair with nightclub beauty Lois Lane , whom he has given the role of Katharina's younger sister "Bianca". However, it quickly becomes clear that there is still a crackling between Fred and Lilli.

Immediately before the performance begins, Fred sends a bouquet of flowers to Lois, but it ends up at Lilli's by mistake. At first she is delighted; but when she finally gets around to reading the card attached to the bouquet during the performance, she realizes the error and her joy turns into anger. During the famous scene in Shakespeare's play, in which Katharina and Petrucchio meet for the first time, there is a scandal: Lilli extemporates , bites, kicks and slaps Fred, who in return puts her over the knee in the middle of the stage. After this humiliation, Lilli refuses to continue playing and asks her fiancé to pick her up immediately. Two gangsters unexpectedly come to the rescue of Fred: Bill Calhoun , the actor in "Lucentio" (and Lois' friend) with a penchant for gambling, has signed a promissory note with Fred's name.

Fred now pretends to have actually signed the promissory note himself and claims that he can only pay his debts if the gangsters prevent Lilli from leaving the ensemble early. The plan initially works - Lilli has to keep playing. Before the final scene of "The Taming of the Shrew", however, the gangsters find out that their client has been liquidated and therefore let Lilli leave the theater with her fiancé. To Fred's happy surprise, Lilli finally reappears on stage - she has obviously chosen him despite everything. So there is a happy ending not only for Katharina and Petrucchio, but also for Lilli and Fred.

Awards and filming

The musical won five Tony Awards in 1949 and had over a thousand performances on Broadway . In the premiere, Alfred Drake , Patricia Morison , Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang played the most important roles.

Kiss Me, Kate was produced as a 3D film by director George Sidney in 1953 , starring Howard Keel , Kathryn Grayson , Ann Miller and Keenan Wynn . The film adaptation received a predominantly positive reception; in Germany the film came out as Kiss me, Katchen! in the cinemas. The 3D version was lost for a long time; it was not until 2003 that it was shown again in the original polarization process at the “World 3D-Film Expo” .

Well-known music numbers

  • "Another Op'nin 'Another Show" (German: premiere fever )
  • "Wonderful"
  • "So in Love" (German: So in love )
  • "I Hate Men" (German: Just not a man )
  • "Bianca"
  • "Too Darn Hot" (German: Much too hot )
  • "Always True to You (In My Fashion)" (German: But I'm only true to you, sweetheart (in my way) )
  • "Brush up Your Shakespeare" (German: blow to Shakespeare )

In the film version, the German baritone Josef Metternich sings the songs by Petruchio, he and the other singers are not mentioned in the opening and closing credits.

media

Web links