![]() ![]() The 1953 MGM film version sanitised some of Porter’s songs, but this was Kiss Me, Kate in all its glory. Her “I Hate Men” had the audience gasping and applauding by turns, her “So In Love” was tender and touching, and the way she threw flowerpots at Davis’s head was truly magnificent. Critically acclaimed for her recent performance as Maria in the San Francisco Symphony’s West Side Story, Silber brought a similar range and passion to this part. Louise Dearman’s Lois Lane/Bianca was completely captivating, and her rendition of “Always True to You in My Fashion”, complete with audience interaction and jaunty winks, was one of the highlights of the show.Īlexandra Silber (left), leading the cast as Lilli Vanessi/Katherine, was the stand-out of the evening, though. These two were outshone, though, by the women. Broadway stalwart Ben Davis was suitably arrogant and unctuous as leading man Fred Graham/Petruchio, while Tony Yazbeck made an elegant, raffish Bill Calhoun and Lucentio, his virtuosic tap-dancing a joy to watch. In this production, the principals managed this admirably. (The domestic violence in Shakespeare’s play requires a slight suspension of feminist anger if it is to be enjoyed.) The Shakespearean “play within a play” elements ask a lot of the show’s principals, who alongside the fast-paced dialogue and vocal agility must give convincing performances in the Shrew sequences. His decision to base a musical around a production of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew was unexpected, to say the least, but ultimately vindicated – spanning over 1,000 performances in its initial run, the show because Porter’s longest-running hit. Kiss Me, Kate came at the end of a difficult decade for Cole Porter, in which he has struggled to replicate the success he had enjoyed in the 1930s with shows like The Gay Divorce and Anything Goes. Science and Technical Research and Development. ![]() Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities.Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives.Information and Communications Technology.HR, Training and Organisational Development.Health - Medical and Nursing Management.Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance.Stuffed as it is with big-hitting numbers – “Too Darn Hot”, “So In Love”, “Why Can’t You Behave?” and “Always True To You in My Fashion” – this Kate was a much-anticipated treat of the 2014 season. This isn’t the first time Wilson’s orchestra has played for a whole show at the Proms: this one follows on from the success of 2012’s semi-staged My Fair Lady. This year, he brought us the original 1948 orchestrations of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, complete with a full company of singers and dancers. With his orchestra – a kind of super-group of musicians hand-picked from the best ensembles in the world – he produces performances of these lost scores of such clarity and feeling that you are left wondering how such music could ever have been allowed to get lost in the first place. Over the past few years, he has been instrumental in recovering the original scores of many classic musicals, including High Society, Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris. Since 2009, when Wilson first brought his meticulously musical approach to classic film and stage music to the Royal Albert Hall, he has garnered a reputation for innovative, witty programming and consummate musicianship that has resulted in his concerts becoming some of the hottest tickets of the season.Īs well as a conductor, Wilson is something of a musical detective. It’s not an honour that is earned easily. At the Proms, John Wilson is one of those lucky few. There are few conductors who receive rapturous applause before they have even lifted their baton for the first beat. ![]()
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