It’s 1951. An “all Singin’ all Dancin’” musical adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew is set to open in Baltimore with actor-manager Fred Graham playing opposite his former wife Lilli Vanessi in the respective roles of Petruchio and Katharine. “After all we owe it to Shakespeare, not to mention the six other fellows who’ve been sitting up nights rewriting him.” Lilli’s Katharine creates unscheduled on-stage sparks when Fred flirts with lovely Lois Lane, a Broadway chanteuse. Further complications ensue when heart-throb Bill Calhoun: dancer, compulsive gambler and definitely Lois’ man, loses ten thousand dollars and signs Fred Graham’s name to an IOU, attracting the attention of “The Mob”. The great Cole Porter poured a huge amount of his best music into Kiss Me, Kate. The score scintillates with hits such as “Wunderbar”, “Always True To You In My Fashion”, “Why Can’t You Behave”, “We Open in Venice” and “Too Darn Hot” – a fabulous stream of lovely melody allied to words by one of the wittiest lyricists America has ever produced.

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