Two versions of Kiss Me Kate

Two versions of Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate are out on DVD, the 1953 movie musical and a Great Performances version of the Tony winning revival. The movie has been released as part of a boxed set with High Society, Les Girls, Broadway Melody of 1940, and Silk Stockings (links go to DVDFile revews - all of them can also be purchased individually).

When it aired on PBS in February, I wrote a brief review comparing the two (with a bunch of links).

The San Francisco Chronicle's dance critic Octavio Roca writes:


There may never be a perfect "Kiss Me Kate." But two major versions of the musical, half a century apart, are powerful reminders of the genius of Cole Porter. For fans of Broadway music and dance, choosing between these two is going to be tough...

...[the recent production] may well be the finest revival we are likely to see in a very long time. Barrett is perfect both as Shakespeare's swaggering Petruchio and as Porter's egomaniacal Fred. He sings gloriously, his radiant baritone brighter than Howard Keel's in the MGM version, his diction delicious and his acting pitch-perfect. Here is that rarity these days, a real Broadway star....

The biggest change in the movie was rather clever: a prologue that introduces Porter (played by Ron Randell) selling his tunes to prospective stars. The real reason for the prologue is to let Ann Miller take over the movie, singing and tapping her way through "Too Darn Hot" and making MGM history...The picture has a great moment that surely was unexpected at the time: the birth of the Fosse style. [Choreographer] Pan allowed the young dancer to choreograph his own variation in "From This Moment On" — a song that was added for Miller but also has an extended dance break for the three suitors — as a duet with Carol Haney. It is both moving and exhilarating to see the easy, jazzy body lines and timing that Fosse would create from "Steam Heat" to "Cabaret" foreshadowed in these few minutes on the screen. Add the surprising stunt casting of Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore as dancing and singing gangsters brushing up their Shakespeare, and Sidney's "Kiss Me Kate" is indispensable.

DVD Savant has a review with some interesting info on the differences between the 3D version and the flat version on the DVD (I wish they had included both versions - the 3D version is sometimes shown at better revival houses).


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