SOPHIE MILSOM

MY REVIEW 

‘Kiss me, Kate’ is a musical whose song lyrics and music were written by Cole porter in the 1940s. The production is based on William Shakespeare’s play ‘The taming of the shrew’. The four main characters who are Fred and his ex wife Lilli Vanessi who have a tempestuous relationship which overcome that and end up falling back in love and Bianca, a young woman along with her gambling addicted boyfriend Bill who has two gangsters after his money.

When I went to see the show I thought that the opening was clever because the lights didn’t dim and the curtains weren’t shut as they usually are at the start of musicals. The actors were all ready on stage acting before the opening song number began. I loved the formations of the dancing and the how everyone was wearing different costumes. The way all the characters were dressed showed their personality as Bianca was in a tight fitted playsuit to show the audience that she was young and how Vanessi had a white fur scarf and a cigarette to show wealth and importance. 

When the first act began I thought it dragged because where I was so high up I lost all atmosphere of the show and I couldn’t really engage in what the characters were saying alot of the time. I didn’t think there was enough speech in the scenes as I expected and because of this I got confused and didn’t understand what was going on. I felt like as soon as Lilli Vanessi walked on stage it seemed as though the first act improved. She was different from all of the other girls on stage because of the age gap and how funny she was compared to everyone else. I felt as though she was the only one who entertained the audience as they were laughing at her gestures.

In the second act I thought it seemed shorter than the first. This act was when the actors put on a show of ‘Taming of the shrew’. I loved how they used cloth like material hoisted up with poles to make props such as trees and chairs. I found that the idea of the old fashioned Tudor type costumes matched the props in colour was really clever. I was disappointed that the characters didn’t tell the story as well because I didn’t realise that Lilli was playing Kate until Fred her ex husband sung the song ‘Kiss me, Kate’ I didn’t think the songs were very good as they were in the first act because I didn’t think they went with the acting as well. I didn’t understand how the Gangsters were characters in the Shakespeare play when all they were there for was to get Bills money. Along with Vanessi I liked the gangsters because when they sang their song ‘Brush up your Shakespeare’ I could tell they stayed in characters the whole time even when they were in the Shakespeare play.

Overall I didn’t really enjoy the musical because they didn’t tell the story line of the play properly. I thought that most of the songs were very good and the dances were devised well and for some of the characters I enjoyed watching them. I think they should of only had one couple for an example; Fred and Vanessi because Bill and Bianca weren’t focused on as much. I think the characters personalities weren’t brought out as much as they could have been. Although the show was over an hour long I felt as if I only watched half hours worth of a show. I think that the two acts were like they were from completely two different shows and didn’t relate together at all.