York, ensemble
carry load for 'Kate'
By Tony Brown
Clevland Plain Dealer
Theater Critic
May 9, 2002
It took more than 50 years
for Broadway to bring back Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate."
When the brilliant, slightly revised revival opened in fall 1999, you could
hear a collective groan from the nation's theater critics. They already had
voted on the top 25 musicals of the century.
The revival won five Tony Awards. Four went to the producers and creators of
the tour that opened Tuesday at Playhouse Square's Palace Theatre.
It takes about half of the first act for the momentum to get going, and only one of the principal players, the dynamic Rachel York as actress Lilli Vanessi in the part of Kate, has the pipes and the personality to do justice to Porter's eclectic, but always jaunty collection of songs.
But a strong singing and
dancing ensemble and the sheer delight of the music often transport us well
into the stratosphere.
Although the creative team, led by director Michael Blakemore, is the same as
it was in New York, the touring sets are wobbly, the choreographic derring-do
gets scaled back, and the cast can't always fill the huge spotlight the show
shines on its singers.
Fred, the egotistical actor/company manager who plays Petruchio, is a difficult
role: He's a cad, but he's got to be so lovable that the audience buys the ending,
when his divorced wife Lilli comes back to him. Rex Smith, a tenor, has lots
of bluster but little of the luster for what is essentially a baritone role,
and he lacks the smooth moves to make "Where Is the Life That Late I Led?" a
charming rake's lament.
Chuck Wagner, who does Gen. Harrison Howell as an overstuffed Gen. Douglas MacArthur,
might have been a better choice for Fred.
Similarly, Jenny Hill's attractive but vocally flat Lois Lane/Bianca, Kevin Neil McCready's pretty but strained Bill Calhoun/Lucentio and Randy Donaldson's uninspired Paul in "Too Darn Hot" all appear to be working hard, but they never take flight.
Richard Poe and Michael Arkin do a decent job as the gangsters who remind us to "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." And although "Another Op'nin' Another Show" feels flat, the ensemble eventually picks up the pace and makes beautiful music and dance in "Cantiamo D'Amore."
Otherwise, it falls to York's gifts as a vocalist and comedian to propel the show. The radiant brunette has enough confidence as a singer to just shout out a note or two, then go back to singing in the brawling, bawling "I Hate Men."
But in the face of the other weaknesses, even York's charms cannot erase the problems a singer must surmount in "I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple."
To do so, she would need a dashing brute to sing it to. None, unfortunately, can be found.
Contact Tony Brown at: tbrown@plaind.com, 216-999-4181