One of the all-time classic musical comedy farces, KISS ME, KATE is making a long awaited return to the London stage this summer for a strictly limited 15-week season at the Barbican Theatre starring the multi-award-winning Adrian Dunbar (Ridley, Line of Duty) making his musical theatre debut as Fred Graham / Petruchio and Broadway musical superstar and Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block (Into The Woods, The Cher Show, 9 To 5) making her West End debut as Lilli Vanessi / Katharine.
They star alongside Charlie Stemp (Crazy For You, Mary Poppins), playing Bill Calhoun, Rising star Georgina Onuorah (The Wizard of Oz / Oklahoma!) will play Lois Lane / Biancam, Hammed Animashaun (A Midsummer Night’s Dream / Black Ops) and Nigel Lindsay (Victoria / Shrek The Musical) who are the singing hilarious gangsters and recently announced acting legend Peter Davison (Dr Who / All Creatures Great and Small) who will take on the role of the General in this highly anticipated show of the summer.
The role of Hattie will be played by Josie Benson, Paul will be played by Jack Butterworth and the role of Harry Trevor/Baptista will be played by Jude Owusu. Hortensio/Ensemble will be played by Carl Au, Gremio/Ensemble will be played by Jordan Crouch, Ralph/Ensemble will be played by Gary Milner and the role of Pops/Ensemble will be played by James Hume. The full ensemble comprises, Alisha Capon, Shani Cator, Maya de Faria, Amelia Kinu Muus, Jacqui Jameson, Lucas Koch, Alex Lodge, Nell Martin, Anna McGarahan, John Stacey and Harrison Wilde. Swings are Robin Kent, Barry Drummond, Emily Goodenough and Maddie Harper.
From the producer of the smash hit musical Anything Goes and A Strange Loop (both staged at the Barbican), comes this majestic new production of Cole Porter’s musical masterpiece, premiering at the Barbican Theatre on 4 June 2024 until 14 September.
With music and lyrics by Cole Porter and the original book by Bella & Samuel Spewack, this magnificent new production, directed by Bartlett Sher (The King and I, South Pacific and To Kill A Mockingbird), promises a symphony of wit, charm and musical brilliance for London audiences next year. Joining the dynamic creative team is renowned choreographer Anthony Van Laast, accomplished costume designer Catherine Zuber and leading set designer Michael Yeargan. This all-star creative team have collectively earned a remarkable 20 Tony awards. With a company of over 50, including a full-scale orchestra, and featuring Cole Porter classics such as ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show’, ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’, ‘Tom, Dick or Harry’ and ‘It’s Too Darn Hot’ KISS ME, KATE is the perfect musical spectacle for 2024.
This musical farce which brilliantly showcases Cole Porter’s razor-sharp wit, has won Best Musical at the Tony Awards. It’s a sophisticated, ferociously funny, show within a show – which whisks you into a world of backstage chaos and romantic entanglements as a theatre company attempt to put on a production of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. The battle of the sexes takes centre stage as former spouses feud, only to find the off-stage antics rival the drama on-stage. Throw in a number of cases of mistaken identity, confused love, gangsters and a spectacular tap routine and you get KISS ME, KATE – which will bring unabashed joy to audiences next year.
Access Performances
Audio Described: Wednesday 17 July, 7.30pm (Touch Tour 5.30pm) and Saturday 10 August, 2.30pm (Touch Tour 12.30pm)
Captioned: Wednesday 24 July, 7.30pm and Saturday 17 August, 2.30pm
BSL interpreted: Wednesday 31 July, 7.30pm and Saturday 24 August, 2.30pm
What did I think?
There are some beautiful songs and character moments but as an entity, the show is disjointed songs feel shoe horned in.
Things start to get interesting, half way through act one when Lilli Vanessi (played fantastically by Broadway’s Stephanie J Block) sings the first stand out song in the show “I Hate Men”. A brilliant character song that really picked up the pace of the show.
The iconic number from the show “Too Darn Hot” opens act 2 and is wonderful to see Jack Butterworth pulled out of the ensemble to have his own number as Paul – showcasing that he is a leading man and triple threat. The song itself however has no relevance to the story.
Georgina Onuorah gives (what I imagine will be the first of many) career defining performances as Lois Lane with her number “Always True to You in My Fashion“.
This production is worth seeing for the stand out performances mentioned above. However, it’s a little slow and feels unnecessarily padded out, when at 2hrs 40mins, could be a lot shorter. I’m glad I saw it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star ratings explained
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Incredible – I can’t stop recommending this to people.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Brilliant. Well worth seeing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good. You’ll have a nice time.
⭐️⭐️ Wasn’t for me. Needs some work.
⭐️ Embarrassing. Shouldn’t have been allowed to make it to the stage
