John Doyle's take on KISS ME KATE

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 2:25am

I posted this on the Toronto board, but thought some of the rest of you might be interested.


Just got back from seeing the Stratford production of KISS ME KATE.

I grew up listening to the OBCR, have seen the movie many times and rank the score second only to ANYTHING GOES as among Porter's best.

What I saw on stage was, frankly, disappointing and unsettling. John Doyle does not seem to trust that material at all and prefers to hoke it up with gimmicks,

Gimmicks like....

1. Not allowing the "book" songs to end and get applause but always segueing back to dialogue. (This frustrates the audience who wants to applaud classic songs like "Why Can't You Behave" and "So in Love.")

2. Performing the "show within a show" as if it is being played by rank amateurs who have never even seen the script before. (The musical Taming of the Shrew is supposedly in Baltimore on a pre Broadway tryout. At first it should play professionally and only start to fall apart when Lilli/Kate begins acting up on stage.)

3. Costuming the "show" performers with what appear to be remnants from a bus & truck tour of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ( I kid you not, right down to a Lumiere!)

4. Playing the whole thing like an extended movie parody like we used to see on The Carol Burnett Show and hHaving performers scream their lines as if volume will make them funnier.


KMK has a very funny script to start with. It also has a classic score. The show doesn't need to be forced to be funny. Also, what is wrong with the original script? Start the show with the Overture, which Fred interrupts, followed by the first scene then leading into "Another Op'nin' Another Show." The 1999 revision makes too many needless changes. The interpolated "From This Moment On" doesn't work and fails to give the second act the needed lift. It also puts too many songs into this this part of the show.

Starting the show with the song undercuts the number, but more curiously in the finale ("Kiss Me Kate") the song doesn't end. Fred and Lilli walk upstage, their voices fading, the stage is cleared but for the lone actor who began the evening with the opening lines of "Another Op'nin.." as if to suggest it was all his dream, or more properly a nightmare.

Some elements do work but only "Too Darn Hot" has the kind of pizazz this production needs. And that's a serious problem!

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 2:53am

How disappointing! This show is pretty much fool-proof if you just trust the material. The book is great, the songs are great, the story is great. What a shame Doyle (whose style of direction I really love) didn't deliver. It doesn't seem like the kind of show he should have taken on. It needs a lot of pep and energy. And while he delivers that in his own way, it's not quite the same kind KMK needs.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 4:10am

I've never understood what anyone sees in Doyle.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 4:15am

Me either.

[AngusN]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 5:27am

Agreed, JoeKv99.

Frontrowcentre - I much prefer the show with the 1999 revisions. I think most of them were needed to make the show more accessible to a modern audience. However, I agree with you on the costumes, they are awful and totally wrong for this show.
Photo gallery:
http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/gallery/1363

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 6:46am

Well, I'm completely with frontrowcentre2 on the 1999 revisions, which I think are dreadful.

Having said that, I think the original script does have problems and perhaps some revisions to it would be useful. But the 1999 revisions were awful.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 7:04am

This sounds pretty crappy.

They should have been playing instruments. We all know that.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 7:24am

Has Doyle EVER directed a show where he's trusted the material?

[Here_I_Go_Again]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 8:46am

how was monique Lund!!!! i LOVE her

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 10:26am

I totally forgot this was still running. I read some of the reviews when it first opened, and they were mostly terrible. I'm not going to defend his choices without having seen the production, and many of you might be surprised to hear me say that I never thought this was really the right show for him to do. I will argue, though, that minimalism is in a way trusting the material; that's how he sees what he does, and its focus on the words. You don't have to see it that way, and I know a hell of a lot of people don't, but there are different ways to do that. Doing what's been done before is not the only way to trust what's written; that's trusting your predecessors more than your writers. Anyway, though, I've been disappointed to hear this didn't work out.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 10:44am

"Has Doyle EVER directed a show where he's trusted the material?"

Please see: COMPANY.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 4:52pm

Yeah, his Company was amazing. I have the DVD, but it is not at all the same experience I had when I was there seeing it live. It was thrilling, and funny. I think there was only one, maybe two choices I didn't care for in that production.

His national tour of Sweeney, on the other hand was a huge miss, but I still blame that mostly on David Hess and his crappy, boring, meandering performance of the title role.

I am sorry to hear his production of KMK wasn't up to par. Fortunately it is only a regional production that will eventually be forgotten.

[AngusN]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 5:27pm

I thought Doyle's production of Company was terrible.
I really don't connect with his concept of the actors playing the instruments, for some shows it could work, for Company, I believe it failed. The success of Company is its exploration of relationships, love, friendships etc. and I felt the actors playing instruments distracted from that. Plus the orchestrations were awkward and limited - accomodating the performers.
Finally I found the performances detached from the heart of the material; perhaps because the performers had too much to think about: acting, singing, dancing, playing instrument etc.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 5:53pm

Yeah, I hated his Company too. His gimmick of actors playing musical instruments created a huge disconnect between the actors and the material.

[Justaguy2]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 8:32pm

"Fortunately it is only a regional production that will eventually be forgotten."

Stratford may not be Broadway but it's not exactly a "regional production". Take a look at their season. 2 shows directed by Des McAnuff, 1 each by Gary Griffin, John Doyle, Stafford Arima (Alterboys, UK Ragtime), Tim Carroll (Globe Theatre London) as well as top Canadian directors such as Jennifer Tarver, Miles Potter and Marti Maraden. An amazing company led this season by Christopher Plummer, Brent Carver, Geraint Wyn Davies, Seana McKenna and Martha Henry. The best designers in Canada, the US and Europe including frequent Broadway designers such as Santo Loquasto, Robert Brill and Paul Tazewell. Next season Brian Dennehy and Brian Bedford both return to the company. Not to mention a $60 million + (CDN) budget. For those who don't know about the Festival, you should check it out:

www.stratfordfestival.ca

There are 12 productions on 4 stages running in rep there right now and you can't get a ticket for Plummer's Tempest. For a theatre fan it makes one hell of a vacation. OK...sorry, I'm sounding like a shill. I'm not. I just take issue with the "regional production" comment.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 8:36pm

John Doyle's revival of COMPANY was atrocious. One of the only saving graces of that production was Raúl Esparza. I agree about the total disconnect of that production. The characters had no business playing musical instruments. Doyle's concepts of direction are way too pretentious. I'm not a fan of his SWEENEY either.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 8:43pm

Thanks, Justaguy2. You jumped in before I had a chance. The Stratford Festival is one of the top theatres in the English-speaking world. It's regional in the same way that the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Upon-Avon is. While it may not be in a big city, tens of thousands of people travel to Stratford, Ont., every year just to see the Festival's productions. That can't be said even of companies like the Guthrie or Arena Stage.

[morosco]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 9:06pm

Does the man hate musicals?

[ObiHave]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 10:27pm

If Slings and Arrows is indeed based on Stratford SF then John Doyle is Darren Nichols.

[hubee]

Posted: 8/25/10 at 11:41pm

And as JustaGuy2 and nobodyhome has already defended, Stratford isn't just any regional theatre.

In fact, their Important of Being Earnest is coming to Broadway this December.

(On the other hand, I didn't love their Kiss Me Kate either. Though I couldn't get into Peter Pan this year either, but I really enjoyed As You Like It)

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/26/10 at 12:02am

This man is a joke.

Updated On: 8/26/10 at 12:02 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 8/26/10 at 12:05am

PalJoey, please choose the revival you hated the most out of the following...

Gypsy (2003)
Sweeney Todd (2005)
Company (2006)
West Side Story (2009)
A Little Night Music (2009)

I have always wondered.
Updated On: 8/26/10 at 12:05 AM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/26/10 at 12:23am

Umm, yes, Stratford is a regional theatre, no matter how you look at it. It is a professional theatre outside of New York City that produces its own season. That is the definition of a regional theatre according to Equity. Some regional theatres have nice big budgets and can afford big name actors and directors, like the Stratford Festival, or the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, which is a regional theatre in association with the League of Resident Theatres (LORT). The only argument you might be able to give is that you are dealing with Canada here, so you may have to replace the words New York City with Toronto instead.

Perhaps you are confusing the term regional with community, there is quite a big difference there.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/26/10 at 12:34am

On a side note, yes some regional productions do transfer to Broadway. Papermill Playhouse is a regional theatre that has transferred its regional productions to Broadway, as has the Goodman Theatre, and Berkley Rep, and La Jolla. But these are all regional theatres and their respective productions were regional productions while at those theatres.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/26/10 at 12:44am

PalJoey, please choose the revival you hated the most out of the following...



Easy. Follies (2001)