KIss Me, Kate–Part Two

As we told you in the first part of this series, we now are going to move on to the 1948 Broadway hit, Kiss Me, Kate.  This is one of the great Broadway book musicals, and the only one written by Cole Porter. Click on the following link to read and listen to some more of this glorious music.

Just to refresh your recollection since the last posting, Porter wrote any number of wonderful songs for Broadway and the movies; yet the big one always seemed to slip through his fingers. Just as Irving Berlin took his place in the sun, with the 1946 production of Annie Get Your Gun, Porter finally had his show two years later in 1948. The book was by Sam and Bella Spewack, and it was excellent. Porter managed to match the book by producing magnificent songs that seemed to spring out of the dialogue and which added significant insight into the emotions and intent of the characters, whether they were the stars or were secondary players. It all fit; it all worked to perfection.

The essence of the show is the longing that a Broadway star (Fred Graham) has for his former wife, Lilli Vanessi. In order to win her back, he manages to get her cast as Kate in his musical version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. If you would permit us an opportunity to mangle Shakespeare, Fred thinks that the play’s the thing to capture the heart of his queen.

Of course, the best laid plans of man will be ruined by one smart woman; thus, we are in for a roller coaster ride, as Fred and Lilli fall in and out of love with each other. The two secondary leads, Lois Lane and Bill Calhoun, complicate the lives of the main stars. Lois and Bill are members of the cast in the show, but Bill has a gambling problem. He signs Fred’s name to a $10,000 marker (IOU) that permits the librettists to introduce two of the best-song-and-dance-men-cum-gangsters since Damon Runyon started to write stories about New York City and its more shadowy denizens.

The wonderful nature of the book is that it permits everyone to have their moment in the sun. In Act One, Scene 1, as Fred and Lilli exit after the first of their many fights, Hattie and the chorus got to tell the audience about how a show gets to Broadway in “Another Op’nin’, Another Show.” The Porter lyrics tell us that tryouts, such as the one now in Baltimore, are only important if they turn into a long running show and therefore a steady job for members of the cast.

In Scene 2, we learned about Bill’s gambling habit and the fact that he has signed Fred’s name to the latest IOU. Lois complains (Spewack humor) that she will never forgive Bill if something happens to Fred before she becomes a star on Broadway. Bill’s IOU also gives Lois a chance to sing the enchanting lament, “Why Can’t You Behave?”

In Scene 3, we received more of the Spewacks’ oddly shaped sense of humor. Lilli has taken a call from her fiancé, Harrison Howell, who has financed the show and is calling from the White House. Recall that this was during the Truman presidency. Harrison puts the President on the phone to talk with Lilli, but Fred snatched it away to ask “Is it true, Mr. President, you’re serving borscht at the White House?” Lily snatched the phone back and apologized, then said “I beg your pardon? … With sour crème.”

Fred and Lilli recalled their early experiences in show business, giving Porter a chance to introduce a waltz from the operetta, “Wunderbar.”

As soon as Fred closed the door to Lilli’s dressing room, two men entered and started admiring Fred’s appearance and diction. They spoke in a very elemental form of a Brooklyn accent. They were there to collect on the IOU signed by Bill. Fred, of course, knew nothing about the marker.

“First Man: The minute a man signs an IOU everything goes dark.
Second Man: The doctors call it magnesia.
First Man. We cure it.”

As they exit, Paul, Fred’s assistant, let Fred know that he delivered the flowers to Lilli. Fred blew up, because they were meant for Lois and there was a card attached. Lilli thought that Fred remembered his old habit of sending her flowers before each opening and sang “So in Love” to an empty stage. This is where we ended the first part. We know pick up the story in Scene 4.

Again, we have a wonderful inside joke, as the musical being staged uses the real-life opening number (“Another Op’nin’, Another Show”) as a model for the show-within-a-show. Thus, we are treated to the tongue-in-cheek song about performing shows on an Italian circuit, instead of in Philly, Boston or Baltimore. Here is the original cast from 1948 singing “We Open in Venice.”

We move into Scene 5, where three suitors are trying, without success to woo Bianca, Kate’s younger sister. However, Kate is the oldest and must be wed first before Bianca can tie the knot. The dialogue moves from Shakespearian iambic pentameter to pure Cole Porter, as the three suitors advance their cases to Bianca to be her husband. The song is “Tom, Dick, or Harry.” Again, we start by listening to the 1948 cast sing this lively tune.

We also have a video clip of the movie cast singing the same song in the 1953 release.

Fred now enters as Petruchio, a man willing to marry any woman as long as the dowry is large. “I’ve Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua” is both witty and Shakespearian, thus blending the wit of the Bard with the wit of the Porter. “I shall not be disturbed a bit/If she be but a quarter-wit,…” We start with a video clip from the 1958 restoration, sung by Alfred Drake.

We also have the original version, sung by Drake in 1948.

Kate then comes on stage to express her opinion of men (hint: she did not come to praise Caesar–“He may have hair upon his chest but, sister, so does Lassie”), establishing the difficulty that Petruchio faces in wooing her. Morrison sings “I Hate Men” with heart-felt gusto in the 1958 special.

While Fred is negotiating Kate’s dowry with her father, Baptista, Lilli is heard offstage—uttering one shriek. Fred knows what has happened (Lilli read the card) but gamely continues with the scene, launching into the glorious tune, “Were Thine That Special Face.” Here is Drake singing the song on the 1948 original cast recording. Please enjoy the various still photos shown during the song.

Lilli comes onstage to finish the scene and starts after Fred, not Petruchio. It ends with Fred giving Lilli an onstage spanking.