Kiss Me, Kate (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets

"The authors’ take on marriage is more complex and insightful than we may recall. And where they did wander into material now rightly seen as toxic, a few changes and one major revision allow us to enjoy it in a new light...Carlyle’s often thrilling choreography offers a bountiful assortment...That too many other numbers disappoint is a problem not just with the choreography but also with the overall staging, which by the middle of the second act seems to run out of invention."
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"In this production, the drama and fire are downplayed. O’Hara’s full and clear soprano is as beautiful as always, but her Lilli is more whimper than bang...Without such changes, however, 'Kiss Me, Kate' might not be revivable at all—and that would be a shame, since the Roundabout’s production is often a delight. For one thing, it affords an opportunity to rehear Porter’s score. And whatever heat has been tamped down in the central couple flares up elsewhere in Scott Ellis’s staging."
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"The majestic Kelli O’Hara’s honey volcano of a voice pours out with seemingly zero effort, and you can almost see smoke rising from the heels of the gazellelike ensemble as they tear through Warren Carlyle’s splashy golden-age choreography...The sad truth — sad at least for a longtime lover of Porter’s songs — is that for all its pizzazz, 'Kiss Me, Kate' itself feels irretrievably dated...Its adjustments are both good, arguably downright necessary ideas, and not really show-savers."
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"Even in an imperfectly cast revival like the new Roundabout production, it's virtually impossible not to surrender to its boisterous charms...If the changes dampen some of the show's comedic vitality in order to make it palatable to contemporary sensibilities, so be it. There are corresponding losses and gains, too, in O'Hara's performance...But this is an immensely pleasurable show even in a production that occasionally lacks spark."
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"Rarely has O’Hara’s vibrato sounded so strong, so powerful, as it does when she sings these three little words: 'I Hate Men'...Gone is the shiny schmaltz of the Golden Age musical’s previous productions, Ellis instead grounding the piece, when necessarily, in sincerity and reality...It helps that Amanda Green has provided some tweaks to Sam and Bella Spewack’s book...None of this means the piece has lost its spark. Porter’s wit still shines through in his score."
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"The clever navigation of this Golden Age musical through today’s waters of gender politics is one of several plusses in an otherwise uneven production that is still able to score some highs in terrific dancing, Kelli O’Hara’s performance and, oh, those Porter songs...What keeps audiences continually engaged are Porter’s songs, which show off an impressive range of standards and styles...Still filled with musical pleasures that audiences will appreciate — now without wincing, after a fashion."
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"'Kiss Me, Kate' is bland and unimaginative. Not only is Ms. O’Hara miscast—she is as warm and friendly as Kate is sharp-witted and spiky—but she and Mr. Chase have all the romantic chemistry of a pair of squabbling siblings. As for Mr. Ellis’s staging, it looks as though he’d put the show together while thinking about something else (which he may well have been, seeing as how he’s also directing 'Tootsie,' which opens on Broadway next month)."
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"It’s a measure of how skillfully director Scott Ellis and book-tweaker Amanda Green navigate the antique attitudes of the material that we view the vicious scrapping of these ex-spouses as hilarious, not creepy or lopsided...This version softens the lady-bashing while not sacrificing the sexiness and humor. Above all, it’s acted and staged with consummate style and grace...Overall, choreographer Warren Carlyle’s routines are spectacular, performed by a winning ensemble."
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