Kiss Me Kate

Following last year’s successful show The Pirates of Penzance, Chester Operatic return with Cole Porter’s 1948 musical “Kiss Me Kate.” This musical version of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” tells the story of the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show’s director and star, and his leading lady and ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The way in which the actors’ real lives interact with their “Shrew” characters, of which there are often similarities, is both clever and very amusing.

Add to that a host of vibrant songs including Another Op’nin’, Another Show, Wunderbar, Too Darn Hot, I’ve Come to Wive it Wealthly in Padua and Brush up Your Shakespeare, will truly make an evening to remember.