Attic Productions’ “Kiss Me, Kate,” though a trifle bumpy here and there, in the end is quite the charmer.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be working with a score by the late Cole Porter. His timeless music and lyrics, combined with the book by Sam and Bella Spewack, resulted in what New York Times critic Vincent Canby called “one of the rare perfect achievements of the American musical theater.”
Nor does it hurt to have young Sarah Coleman in the title role. Though still a student at Radford University, Coleman has the acting and singing chops of a rising star.
“Kiss Me, Kate” appeared in 1948. It was a hit and award winner and has since gone through multiple revivals, tours, foreign productions and movie and TV versions.
Coleman plays Lilli Vanessi, ingenue of a Baltimore theater company that is preparing a musical version of “The Taming of the Shrew” in which she will be the tempestuous and professed man-hater, Katherine. Appearing opposite Coleman is David Fisher, who plays actor Fred Graham in the Baltimore company and Petruchio in the musical “Shrew.” Graham also is Vanessi’s ex-husband.
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So what you have is a play within a play within a play: Attic characters playing Baltimore characters playing Shakespearean characters. It’s not as knotty as it sounds, although some familiarity with “The Taming of the Shrew” helps one appreciate the show’s assorted parallels and subtleties.
The offstage relationship between Vanessi and Graham is fractious but with tantalyzing hints that the passion of former times may not be dead. Their “Wunderbar,” for example, ends in a very convincing embrace. The couple’s not-so-peaceful coexistence carries over into the company’s musical as Vanessi’s fiery Katherine scraps comically with Graham’s Petruchio, her determined swain.
Singers don’t always nail their notes in Attic’s “Kate,” and the acting isn’t always spot on. The dancing can be mechanical and even unintentionally comical. But a few bumps are to be expected when amateurs take on a play that is so big and so “perfect.” The show’s plusses far outweigh its deficiencies.
Aside from Coleman and Fisher (who makes a worthy lover and adversary for Vanessi/Kate), there are standout performances by Emma Boyer and Ben Sherman. Boyer excels as actress Lois Lane of the Baltimore company and Bianca in its “Shrew.” Sherman is her love interest as Bill Calhoun in the Baltimore troupe and Lucentio in “Shrew.” And David Ratliff, also a Radford student, delivers a show stopper in Porter’s “It’s Too Darn Hot.”
Plaudits are due Richard J. Whitley as music director and conductor of the show’s large and capable orchestra. Mark Moomaw and Karen Moore designed the colorful rotating sets. The costume manager is Freda Wood.
And it’s Trina Yancey, the show’s accomplished director, who has shaped it all into the infectious package that it is. Attic’s “Kate” is the kind of show that gives community theater a good name.