Kiss Me Kate- Page 2

[ggersten]

Posted: 12/31/07 at 6:05pm

>>we did this my freshman year in high school and our director said "i dont want any of you thinking that this show is about anything but sex. because its not. everyone in the cast (of shrew) is having sex with someone else in the cast. and i need to see that." <<

Hmm. Director tells high school kids to have sex and he needs to see it. That could have gotten the director in trouble.

[AngusN]

Posted: 1/2/08 at 5:51pm

Yes, I figured that Paul and Hattie were an 'item' in the revival - despite Paul being as camp as christmas. I like the idea of them being another couple in the show, although I would perhaps have them played less as a couple, more as having had, or are having sexual relations.

[AngusN]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:59am

Also guys, seen as though the show (revival) is concerned with steretypes, and challenging the steretypes of women. What do you think about having one of the 'gangster' men, as a woman?
I'm just trying to think of as many different ideas as possible.

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 2:22pm

Definitely would NOT cast one of the gangsters as a woman. The humor comes from two tough guys becoming enamored with the theater. I can't see a woman singing, "Kick her right in the Coriolanus!" The chemistry would be all off if you had a man and a woman dancing together in "Brush Up Your Shakespeare."

KMK has never been a favorite of mine. I've always found the leads unlikeable and I didn't care if they got back together at the end or not. The Blakemore revival worked because he made it absolutely positively clear that Lilli and Fred were madly in love with each other. Can't live with him, can't live without him kind of thing. And Rachel York and Brent Barrett, especially, made their characters vulnerable, too. You could see that they ached for each other even when fighting. You wanted them to grow up and reunite.

My best advice? Don't play the stereotypes. That makes them shallow clowns. Play them as real people with exaggerated star-level foibles. If you want to be "new and different," get creative with your blocking and choreography. Don't just mimic the fight scenes as done on the DVD. Find other funny slapstick interpretions to the lines. Why are they fighting? If you look back at the source material (Taming of the Shrew), you can argue that they are sublimating their sexual attraction. Make the dancing really sizzle, too. The heart of the story is very sexy subject matter.

More than anything else, KMK is a passionate love affair. It celebrates romantic love and a love of the theater. You have to see sparks between the leads and you have to ignite excitement about the opening night of their show. It's two shows in one. You have to play both of them with equal energy.

lc

[Jon]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 3:38pm

I always thought "Too Darn Hot" should be done as a strip tease. The chorus members are in their heavy Shakespearean costumes, and as the dance gets "hotter", they could strip down to just tights and undies.

[AngusN]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 6:05pm

Lovesclassics - thank you so much for your advice. I completely agree that Lilli and Fred have to be vulnerable, as well as violently passionate, both in their love for each other and their hatred of each other.
I love your comment about them being "real people with exaggerated star-level foibles". How many people do we know like this, right? Haha! Thanks you so much for your input, it is greatly received.
Also, Jon, I just love your idea about the strip tease. That was my intention, but I like the idea of having their Shrew costumes lying around, and people undressing each other. Nice touch!

[AngusN]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 7:21am

Hey tobiasragg, definitely. Stay in touch and let me know how things are going. Fred is an amazing role, for any performer to play - he is so mutli-layered, not just because of the play-within-a-play, but also the different sides of his character. I love that he is at once: pompous, arrogant, egotistical, and yet, lovestruck and vulnerable.
Let me know how you get on.
Break a leg!

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 2:03am

It's not a uncommon thing to have a female as one or both of the Gangster(s).

My high school did the show back in 2004, and we had a female gangster.

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 1/6/08 at 3:16am

tobiasragg,

Congrats! And please do keep us posted. For my taste, female gangsters are just too La Femme Nikita and not at all in keeping with the Damon Runyon-esque characters they were intended to spoof. Plus, the whole tone of the show is so Post WWII traditional. Casting women as the thugs inserts a modern sensibility that contrasts much too sharply with the rest of the show.

I'd be really curious to know how your woman is costumed, how she carries herself, and what kind of speech pattern she adopts. I look forward to your updates.

lc