Passions run high as leading lady Lilli Vanessi and her ex-husband, actor/director Fred Graham, battle onstage and off in a production of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. With romance, comedy, sophistication, and behind-the-scenes high jinks, Kiss Me, Kate combines the irreverent humor of four brilliant writers: Sam and Bella Spewack, Cole Porter and William Shakespeare.

Musical numbers include "So In Love," "Wunderbar," "Tom, Dick or Harry," "Too Darn Hot," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," "I Hate Men," "Always True to You (In My Fashion)" and "Another Op'nin, Another Show."

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REVIEWS:

"Utterly, deliriously fun!"

Davi Cote, Observer

"The crowning achievement of Cole Porter’s long and celebrated career on Broadway, Kiss Me, Kate is a valentine to stage folk, a love letter in song linking Shakespeare and showbiz."

Charles Isherwood, Variety

"You have only to listen to Porter’s score — a swoon-worthy progression of deftly shifting rhythms and sophisticated rhymes and musical motifs — to understand the show’s timeless charm."

Peter Marks, The Washington Post

"It’s a pleasure to roar at suffering that is big and fake and somebody else’s. Kiss Me, Kate is cleverly constructed to provide that pleasure squared... Porter’s score remains an astonishing encyclopedia of musical comedy style."

Jesse Green, The New York Times

"I hardly need to extol the smutty, nutty, indelible Porter score, with heaven-sent numbers such as ‘Too Darn Hot,’ ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’ and that deathless show-folk anthem, ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show.’"

Davi Cote, Observer

"Cole Porter's knockout score [features] such gems as ‘Another Op'nin,' Another Show,’ ‘So In Love,’ and that great second act opener, ‘Too Darn Hot,’ which sets the place on fire!"

Roma Torre, NY1

"Cole Porter's sybarite's delight of a musical... broad, brazen, often shameless and finally irresistible... Kiss Me, Kate asserts that there is still a place for sophisticated, grown-up fun in the New York theater."

Ben Brantley, The New York Times

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Premiere Production:

Kiss Me, Kate opened on Broadway on December 30, 1948 at the New Century Theatre, starring Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. The show transferred to the Shubert Theatre and ran for a total of 1,077 performances. A London production opened on March 8, 1951 and ran for 400 performances at the Coliseum Theatre. The original cast album issued in 1948 by Columbia Records was the very first Broadway cast recording to be issued on LP. And in 1949, Kiss Me, Kate won the very first Tony Award for Best Musical. In 1999, a revised version of the show was revived on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre, starring Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell. The production was extremely well received, and played for 881 performances. The 1999 revival at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London played for about 300 performances, starring Marin Mazzie and Brent Barrett. In 2018, the Roundabout Theatre Company presented a newly revised version of Kiss Me, Kate starring Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. The critically acclaimed revival ran through June 30, 2019.