University of Virginia Library

STAGE

Players Kiss Success With 'Kate'

By STEVE WELLS

About once every year the
Virginia Players put 150% effort
into a particular production and
come out with a resounding,
hats-in-the-air success. Season
before last it was "The Miser," last
season it was "Rosenerantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead," and the
joyous news this morning is that
"Kiss Me Kate," which Monday
night breezed into Minor Hall on a
magic carpet woven by one of the
most impressive assemblages of
musical comedy talent you're likely
ever to see working in college
theatre, assures us of at least one
such memorable triumph this year.

Peter Webb has directed
musicals in this city before, David
Weiss has designed the sets for
many a Virginia Players production,
and Lois Garren has costumed a fair
share of shows in her time here. But
"Kiss Me Kate" marks a new
plateau for each. Mr. Weiss' sets are
the product of decorative logic,
stylish taste, and functional
ingenuity, a prime example being
his carnival-like, paneled act
curtain. And Miss Garren's
costumes are an explosion of color,
each an imaginative creation to
provide visual nourishment.

Most Credit

But most credit has to go to Mr.
Webb, who approached this 1948
musical about a separated couple
starring in a musical version of
Shakespeare's "Taming of the
Shrew" and the bizarre adventures
and romantic by(and horse)-play
that ensue until they are reconciled
at final curtain, with much
confidence in the material and a
very special respect for Cole
Porter's solid gold score. To
engineer a musical production of
this magnitude on the Minor Hall
stage and emerge victorious is quite
an accomplishment.

There is a definite build to the
show upon which Mr. Webb has
capitalized. The musical, unlike
many, gains natural momentum as
it progresses, and Mr. Webb does

not stray from this course; his
staging never drags, nor does it try
to really milk the material until the
material lends itself to milking,
which occurs in the second act
(American musicals have
traditionally run into trouble in the
second act, but "Kiss Me Kate"
actually has a better second half
than first).

Whatever might be hokey and
contrived about Samuel and Bella
Spewack's libretto has been covered
up rather neatly by Mr. Webb's very
light, exaggerated comic treatment
of it. The approach borders on
being tongue-in-cheek without ever
actually becoming that (except in
the sequences when the authors
intended it to). It's a delicate
balance to maintain, but Mr. Webb
has managed to do just that, with
the result being a fast-paced story
development through humorous,
concise dialogue which remains
surprisingly pungent when it could
easily have come across stale.

Lively Steps

Yet, above all, we have the
music-and "Kiss Me Kate" is a
very musical musical. There is a
great amount of dancing-Miss
Garren has provided the
choreography and has created some
lively steps-and sixteen wonderful
songs for the actors to belt out.
About eight of them have
show stopper potential-depending
upon how well they are
performed-and they are all done
justice by the amazingly gifted
actors that Mr. Webb has somehow
found and excellently cast. Indeed,
the most distinct pleasure the show
has to offer is in the spirited
rendition of the individual
numbers.

For instance, there is Joe
Taylor, all cunning and romantic
conceit as Fred/Petruchio,
bouncing around the stage
delivering his lusty ode to
bachelorhood, "Where is The Life
That Late I Led?," tossing away his
little black book in the process.
There is Mardi Billings, fiery-eyed
and charmingly explosive as Miss
Vanessi/Kate, staring
tempestuously at the audience,
banging a tin cup against a tin plate,
and violently proclaiming "I Hate
Men!"

There is David Gwin, Innocent
and foppish as Bill/Lucentio,
singing of his love for "Bianca," in
one of the more humorous and
winning love songs ever composed
Then there is the team of Ed Steele
and Ken Lambert, who, after
endearing themselves to the
audience with their sharply pointed
caricatures of two not-so-smart
gangsters trying to collect a debt
from Mr. Taylor, break into "Brush
Up Your Shakespeare" and break
up the house, adding their personal
antic touch to one of Porter's more
clever lyrics.

Animated Doll

And, finally, there is Pat Prinz,
an animated doll with the
effervescence of a Sandy Duncan or
Bonnie Franklin and the ability to
put over a number with that
magical ingenue touch, coyly
weaving her way into your heart
with "Tom, Dick, or Harry," and
then securing the affection with the
rousing "Always True To You In
My Fashion." With bright blue
eyes, rosy cheeks, and a lock of hair
which keeps falling over her
forehead, Miss Prinz is cute as all
get out, vulnerable, seductive, and
appropriately featherbrained, as all
ingenues must be.

What keeps Miss Prinz'
incandescent performance from
standing out as much as it
ordinarily would is, as I have
implied, the extremely high caliber
of all the acting, not just in the
major roles, but in the minor ones
as well. Clissy Friant, David Bell,
and Jack Staub all make the most
of their bit parts, and the chorus
performs its duties capably.

And thus we have it-a tuneful,
frothy, irresistible evening of
entertainment, pure and simple.
"Kiss Me Kate" is the type of show
that makes you feel happy all over.
Wunderbar!

—Ed.)