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AUDIENCE GUIDE 2018-2019 | Our 59th Season | Issue 5

Edited by Ray Jivoff Jivoff Ray Edited by Research/Writing by by Research/Writing

7811 - [email protected] Season Sponsors Season Justine Leonard for ENLIGHTEN, for ENLIGHTEN, Leonard Justine 158 N. Broadway WIMilwaukee,53202 (414) 291 www.skylightmusictheatre.org Skylight Music Theatre’s Education Program Education Theatre’s Music Skylight

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Los Angeles Times theatre. It’smust a see! Kiss KateMe, 1948,in had a Broadway revival in 1999 and is currently running in a new onrevival Broadway and has been nominated for a 2019 Tony Award as the RevivalBest ofmusical. a This is firstthe timehas Skylight produced the show. The Kiss KateMe, savored…enormous delight “Vibrant, said, colorful… exhilarating!” Kiss KateMe, Another Show Golden Age of American musical He described perfectshow Skylight because the book musicand reflect continuing our mission of stories telling that sing covers a wide range of styles, mirroring Skylight’s ofgoal presenting the full spectrummusic of a theatre. It is delicious challenge for our cast of versatile performers sing, who dance and easily handle the musical’s witty dialogue along with Shakespearean text,” he said. -

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SkylightMusic Theatre artistic director. southeastern Wisconsinsoutheastern landmark. JivoffRay direct will marking show final his hisin as role The Taming The of the Wisconsinwas a native and the couple owned , now a backstage bickering of famous husband and Fontanne during their 1935 production of To You In FashionMy Op’nin’, Another Show Kiss KateMe, Shakespeare’s Shrew features such Darn Too Hot, , Always True The sparkling score follows the onstage romance backstage and antics ofcast a putting on a musicalWilliam version of considered one of Broadway’s greatest treasures, thewon first very Tony Award for Best Musical. of most the sophisticated, andwitty, melodious ever written forAmerican the theater. Porter’s 's delightful songs are some May 17 May Thisavailableguide is online at skylightmusictheatre.org Unlike many successful Broadway including a about a streetwalker, composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as Love for Sale. The lyric was well as the music for his songs. In considered too explicit for radio play, 1916, Porter's first Broadway though it was recorded and aired as production, , a an instrumental and rapidly became a "patriotic comic " modeled standard. Porter often referred to it as on , was a flop, his favorite song. closing after two weeks. Next came 's last stage In 1917, when the United States show, Gay Divorcee (1932). It featured entered , Porter moved to a hit that became Porter's best-known and joined the French Foreign song, Night and Day. Porter followed Legion. Even during the war, Porter this with a show for Gertrude maintained an apartment in Paris, Lawrence, (1933), which where he entertained lavishly. His ran for 154 performances. parties were extravagant and scandalous, with "much gay and In 1934, Porter wrote what many bisexual activity, with guests that consider his greatest score of this included nobility, celebrities and a period, , which was an Cole Albert Porter (1891 – 1964) was large surplus of recreational drugs". immediate hit. Its songs include I Get born in Peru, , the only child of a Kick Out of You, All Through the a wealthy family. His father, Samuel In 1918, he met Linda Lee Thomas, a Night, You're the Top (one of his best- Fenwick Porter, was a druggist and rich, Kentucky-born divorcée eight known list songs), and Blow, , his mother, Kate was the daughter of years his senior who became Porter's Blow, as well as the title number. J.O.Cole, "the richest man in Indiana," confidante and companion. The a coal and timber speculator. couple married the following year. She He followed that with (1935), knew about Porter's homosexuality, which was not a major hit, but it Porter began his musical training at an but it was mutually advantageous for featured two songs that have become early age. He learned the violin at age them to marry and they were standards, and six, the piano at eight, and wrote his genuinely devoted to each other. They Just One of Those Things. first at ten. His mother remained married from 1919, until her falsified his recorded birth year, death in 1954. Anything Goes was the first of five changing it from 1891 to 1893 to make Porter shows featuring . him appear more precocious. At the age of 36, Porter returned to He loved her loud, brassy voice and Broadway in 1928 with the musical wrote many songs that displayed her Porter was sent to Worcester Paris, his first hit. The songs for the strengths. Red, Hot and Blue (1936), Academy in Massachusetts in 1905. show included Let's Misbehave and featuring Merman, He brought a piano with him and one of his best-known songs, Let's Do and , introduced It's found that music, and his ability to It. Porter then wrote the score for a De-Lovely and Ridin' High. entertain, made it easy for him to , Wake Up and Dream, which make friends. opened on Broadway in 1929. His song What Is This Thing Called Love? Entering in 1909, became immensely popular. Porter majored in English and minored in music. He was a member of several fraternities, and contributed to the His last show of the was Fifty campus humor magazine, The Yale Million Frenchmen (1929), for which he Record. He was an early member of wrote 28 songs, including You Do the Wiffenpoofs, Yale’s famous Something to Me, You've Got That a capella group. Thing and The Tale of the Oyster. The show closed after only three weeks despite support from , who Porter wrote 300 songs while at Yale, took out an advertisement calling the including the football fight songs show "The best musical comedy I've Bulldog and Bingo Eli Yale that are heard in years...One of the best still played at the school today. After collections of songs I have ever graduating, Porter enrolled in Harvard heard." By the , he was one of Law School in 1913. But he defied his the major Broadway composers. domineering grandfather who wanted him to be a lawyer and switched to Harvard's music department. Porter’s score for (1930) acquired instant notoriety for

AUDIENCE GUIDE | KISS ME, KATE (1946), a largely fictional biography of Porter, with implausibly cast in the lead. The film was a huge box office hit, chiefly because of the wealth of vintage Porter numbers in it. The biopic's success was in stark contrast to the failure of the film The Pirate (1948), with and , in which five new Porter songs received little attention.

From this low spot, Porter made a Porter also wrote for Hollywood conspicuous comeback in 1948 movies in the mid-1930s, including with Kiss Me, Kate. It was by far his (1936), with James most successful show, running for Stewart, featuring Easy to Love and 1,077 performances in New York. I've Got You Under My Skin, and It was made into a successful MGM (1937), featuring In the Still of musical in 1953. the Night. Porter began the 1950s with Out Of Few people, except his closest friends Porter also composed the cowboy This World (1950), which was not and associates, had any idea of the song Don't Fence Me In for Adios, successful. His next show, Can-Can painful and tragic life he led for more Argentina, an unproduced movie, in (1952), featuring C'est Magnifique, It's than 25 years. His life was more 1934. It became a hit when Roy All Right with Me and the now classic realistically portrayed in De-Lovely, a Rogers sang it in the 1944 film, was another hit. Porter's 2004 film starring as . last Broadway production, Silk Porter and as Linda. Stockings (1955) was loosely based on On October 24, 1937, Porter was the Garbo film . A 1957 film Cole Porter’s work set standards of horseback riding when his horse rolled version starred Fred Astaire and Cyd sophistication and wit seldom matched on him and crushed his legs, leaving Charisse. in the popular musical theater. His him disabled and in constant pain for songs show an elegance of the rest of his life. Though doctors told The film (1956), starring expression and a cool detachment Porter's wife and mother that his right , and Grace that epitomizes a sophistication leg would have to be amputated, and Kelly, included Porter's last hit song, peculiar to the 1930s. He was also an possibly the left one as well, he True Love. Porter also wrote songs for authentically talented creator of refused to have the procedure. the Gene Kelly film (1957). original melodies. Like George His final score was for a 1958 Gershwin, he frequently disregarded He remained in the hospital for seven CBS television special, Aladdin. the accepted formulas of the months. He returned to work as soon conventional popular song (usually a as he could, and composed the score In his last years, the horrible pain he rigid 32-measure framework) and of the Broadway musical, Leave It to experienced, the death of his mother turned out pieces of charm and Me! (1938) soon after the accident. in 1952 and his wife in 1954, all led to distinction. The show was a hit and introduced overwhelming depression and an singing My Heart Belongs increasing reliance on alcohol and The Cole Porter Festival is held each to Daddy and Most Gentlemen Don't narcotic painkillers. year in his hometown of Peru, Indiana Like Love. on the weekend nearest to Porter’s In 1958, after over thirty surgeries, his birthday on June 9th. Next was DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), right leg was amputated. The man a particularly risqué show starring whose songs epitomized wit and joy Merman and . The score told friends after the amputation, “I am included But in the Morning, No (which only half a man now.” was banned from the airwaves), Well, Did You Evah? and another classic Porter never wrote another song after up-tempo , Friendship. the amputation and spent the remaining six years of his life in relative seclusion. He died of kidney This was followed by a series of flops failure on October 15, 1964 at the age and many thought Porter's best period of 73. He is buried with his wife, Linda, was over. But he continued to write for Hollywood and he cooperated in the in the family plot in Mount Hope making of the film Night and Day Cemetery in his native Peru, Indiana.

2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE A Unique Creative Team 1922. Shortly after, they moved to Moscow, where they worked as news correspondents for the next four years. After returning to the US, they settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Sam wrote several novels, including Mon Paul, The Skyscraper Murder and The Murder in the Gilded Cage. The couple collaborated on many plays, the best known being My Three Angels, which was adapted as the film We're No Angels. The two wrote screenplays throughout the 1930s, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for My Favorite Wife in 1940. They also wrote a remake of Grand Hotel, entitled Week-End at the Waldorf why not make it a backstage musical Kiss Me, Kate was inspired by the (1945), starring . and feature a show within a show—an on-stage/off-stage battling of husband- operetta of the play being performed and-wife actors Alfred Lunt and Lynn The state of her tempestuous by battling stars who mimic their Fontanne during their 1935 production marriage probably attracted Bella to personas on stage. of . When the Kiss Me, Kate project. Bringing on Bella and Sam Spewack were Cole Porter as composer and lyricist For the bickering dialogue, the approached in 1948 to write the book stirred the creative pot even more. Spewack’s had a wealth of experience for the musical Kate, they were in the Porter was not sure that he was to draw on while Porter was midst of their own marital woes. capable of writing a “book show,” an comfortable with the backstage milieu integrated musical where the songs similar to some of his previous shows Always known as a bickering couple, further the plot and are part of the and several of the movies to which he the Spewacks were an unusual match. narrative as opposed to breaking up had contributed. Sam was born in Ukraine, but grew up the action. Porter’s specialty was in New York where he attended highly sophisticated patter songs Kiss Me, Kate turned but to be truly Stuyvesant High School and received laden with innuendo and often wry "Wunderbar” for them all. In 1949, it a degree from Columbia College. detachment, which he did not think won the first Tony Award for Best Bella, the oldest of three children of a would lend itself to the new musical Musical. Sam and Bella Spewack won single mother, was born Bella Cohen theatre form. for the Best Author (Musical) category in Bucharest, Romania. Her family and Cole Porter won for Best Original emigrated to the Lower East Side of What’s more, the team was following Score. The musical proved to be Manhattan when she was a child. on the heels of Rodgers and Porter's only show to run for more Hammerstein, already credited with than 1,000 performances on After graduation from Washington two important book musicals: Broadway. Irving High School, she worked as a Oklahoma (1943) and Carousel (1945), journalist for socialist and pacifist with about to launch on newspapers such as The New York Broadway. The era was to become Call. Her work drew attention from known as the Golden Age of Musicals. Sam, working as a reporter for The World, and the couple married in Then there were the enormous differences in the backgrounds and politics between the Spewacks, who were Jews and Socialists and Porter, a wealthy WASP. But they agreed to give it a try. Bella began working with Porter on her own, but eventually her husband joined the team, though she ended up doing most of the work.

Porter came up with the solution to their major problem. Instead of just setting Shakespeare’s play to music,

AUDIENCE GUIDE | KISS ME, KATE The Inspiration for Kiss Me, Kate Husband and wife acting team Alfred Their devotion to excellence was Lunt and are widely matched by the respect and affection considered the greatest acting team in they inspired in their peers and the history of American theatre. Their protégés: 1935 production of Taming of the “Everything I know about acting I Shrew (pictured to the right) inspired Kiss learned from Alfred Lunt.” Laurence Me, Kate. Olivier

Arnold Saint-Subber, a young stage “The Lunts were my friends. They manager working on that production, were my idols, my teachers, my took note of their passionate behavior mentors. I think of all the lucky things on-stage and off. By 1947, Saint- that happened to me in my life in the Subber had become a , the Lunts were the luckiest.” producer and assembled the team that created Kiss Me, Kate based on his recollection of the Lunts. In 1958, the Lunts began the American run of what would be their final stage The musical is full of references to performance, , by Swiss their production. For instance, dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt. The Fontanne opened the show by play opened in the newly opened Lunt- shooting a bird with a shotgun, echoed Fontanne Theatre on Broadway. in Kate’s Act 1 finale. At one point, Lilli 1960, they never appeared on stage shoves sausages down the front of her separately. The other requirement of After they retired from the stage in dress, just as Fontanne did in Shrew. the contract with The 1960, they lived in their beloved Ten And Lunt and Fontanne’s infamous was that they would not act in the Chimneys year-round and spent many spanking scene in 1935 has become a summer, in order to spend the off- happy years there enjoying the pivotal moment in the musical. season at Ten Chimneys, their home extraordinary retreat they had created in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin. Their together. They came out of retirement Actor Alfred Lunt was born in estate became an important place for in 1965 to act in Magnificent Yankee , Wisconsin in 1892. His artistic creation, discussion and for the wife, actress Lynn Fontanne, was born inspiration. television series, winning Emmy in 1887 in , England. Both had Awards for their performances. Two successful individual careers but The couple constantly strove for years later Fontanne appeared alone achieved their greatest fame together. perfection and rehearsed almost in a television production of Anastasia; continuously to attain the effortless it was her first performance without In 1922, Fontanne and Lunt were rapport that was their hallmark. They Lunt since 1928. married. By the mid-1920s, they were were instrumental in the transition of the most popular and highest-paid American theatre from oratory (or Alfred died in 1977, at the age of 84; stage actors in the country. At the declamation) to naturalism. They Lynn passed away six years later, in height of their careers, they took revolutionized theatre with innovations 1983, at the age of 96. A monument at enormous pay cuts to sign on with The that we now accept as commonplace: their grave reads, “Alfred Lunt and Theatre Guild, a fledgling overlapping dialogue, turning their Lynn Fontanne were universally dedicated to performing new and backs to the audience, passionate regarded as the greatest acting team avant-garde work. physical contact and a level of truth in the history of the English speaking and realism in everything they did that theatre. They were married for 55 Although the Lunts were considered at simply could not be found on the years and were inseparable both on their best in comedies by George American stage prior to the Lunts. and off the stage.” Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward and Terence Rattigan, they believed Although their first movie together, The Ten Chimneys, their estate in strongly that creating great theatre Guardsman, was a critical and Genesee Depot, located in Waukesha with broad impact was far more commercial success, they hated the County, Wisconsin, is now a house important than money. Along with process of making films and chose to museum and resource center for taking large cuts in salary, they put two dedicate their careers to live theatre. theater. It has been designated a clauses into their contracts that would Lynn reportedly told a studio head, national historic landmark and is open profoundly affect the rest of their lives “My dear sir, we can be bought, but we for public tours May through and careers. cannot be bored. No more films”. December 1st. Advance reservations for tours are recommended. First, the Lunts insisted that they only act together, rather than in separate plays. By 1928, until they retired in Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon Shakespeare produced most of his Brush Up Your Shakespeare works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies One of the most popular numbers in and histories. Until about 1608, he Kiss Me, Kate is sung by the two wrote mainly tragedies, among them gangsters near the end of the second Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and act, a classic “eleven o’clock number”. Macbeth, all considered to be among It features Porter’s irreverent wit at its the finest works in the English most bawdy. The premise of the song language. In the last phase of his life, is spelled out in the opening lyrics: he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with The girls today in society, other playwrights. Go for classical poetry, So to win their hearts At age 49 (around 1613), he appears you must quote with ease, to have retired to Stratford, where he Aeschylus and Euripedes… died three years later. But the poet of them all, That will start ’em simply ravin’, , English poet, Shakespeare is known for his Is the poet people call playwright and actor is widely innovation using literary devices such The Bard of Stratford on Avon. regarded as the greatest writer in the as genre, plot and characterization in English language and the world's revolutionary ways to expand on their Below is a list of all of Shakespeare’s greatest dramatist. He is often called dramatic potential. He wrote plays. Those mentioned in the song, England's national poet and the "Bard soliloquies, (characters speaking Brush Up Your Shakespeare are in of Avon.” His works consist of 37 directly to the audience), not only to bold. plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative propel the plot but also to display a poems, and a few other verses, some character's secret life. Comedies of uncertain authorship. His plays Scholars have broken the plays into All's Well That Ends Well, As You have been translated into every three categories: Comedies, Like It, Measure for Measure, A language, including Star Trek’s Tragedies and Histories. But, he often Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Klingon, and are performed more often blended genres, which was not Ado About Nothing, Troilus and than any other playwright. His works traditionally done at the time. For Cressida, Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, are known for their universal themes instance, Romeo and Juliet is both a The Comedy of Errors, Love's and insight into the human condition. romance and a tragedy, Much Ado Labour's Lost, The Merchant of He is credited with introducing nearly About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 3,000 words to the English language. Venice have elements of both tragedy Pericles, The Taming of the Shrew, and comedy. The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Shakespeare was born and raised in Verona, The Winter's Tale Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, about 100 miles northwest of London. Tragedies Most sources say that he was born Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, April 26, 1564 and died April 23, 1616. , Macbeth, Othello, Titus His father was a successful leather Andronicus, Julius Caesar, King merchant who served as an alderman. Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Timon of Athens Little is known about his childhood; he went to the local grammar school Histories where he learned poetry, history, 1,2, and 3 Henry VI, 1 and 2 Henry Greek and Latin. When he turned IV, King John, Henry V, Henry eighteen he married Anne Hathaway, VIII, Richard II, Richard III who was eight years older than he. They had three children: Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith.

Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part-owner of a theatre company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. Costume design by Jason Orlenko Taming the Shrew Kiss Me, Kate follows the onstage romance and backstage among a cast putting on a musical version of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Although it is impossible to date The Taming of the Shrew exactly, evidence marks it as one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, written most likely in the late 1580s or early 1590s.

The Taming of the Shrew can be traced to a variety of sources. The primary plot, the story of Katherine and , finds its roots in folk tales and songs common in Shakespeare's day. While growing up,

Shakespeare was surrounded by a very public debate over the nature of women, including specific arguments on a woman's duty and role in Of marriage. The Taming of the Shrew shows us a course, it is also regarded as one of dramatist who is sophisticated in his the great grandfathers of the "battle of The play begins with a framing device, characterization and ability to deal with the sexes" story line, a formula that often referred to as the induction, in multiple plots, as well as to address has inspired countless movies – the which a mischievous nobleman tricks socially relevant topics. Since it was Tracy and Hepburn films, Mr. and Mrs. a drunken tinker named Christopher first performed it has been criticized Smith, The War of the Roses, and Sly into believing he is actually a for its representation of abusive many more. There are endless nobleman himself and the play is behavior and misogynistic attitudes television series (take your pick, but performed for Sly's diversion. toward women. It has been the subject see especially a young Bruce Willis of considerable controversy among going toe-to-toe with The main plot depicts the courtship of modern scholars and audiences. in Moonlighting). Petruchio and Katherina, the While there's that Shrew headstrong, obdurate “shrew”. Initially, There is also evidence that Shrew portrays patriarchy at its worst – the Katherina is an unwilling participant in made even Shakespeare's question is, what is the play's attitude the relationship; however, Petruchio contemporary audiences more than a toward such actions and behavior? "tames" her with various psychological little squeamish. When Shrew Does it condone domestic abuse and torments, such as keeping her from continued to be staged and adapted, celebrate painful and humiliating eating and drinking, until she becomes in the late 1890s, playwright George tactics to reform "shrewish" behavior? (in his thinking) a desirable, compliant, Bernard Shaw wrote that "No man with Or, does it satirize, mock and ridicule and obedient bride. The subplot any decency of feeling can sit [the final unfair social attitudes toward women? features a competition between the act] out in the company of a woman Or, is it merely a light-hearted farce suitors of Katherina's younger without being extremely ashamed." that is not meant to be taken seriously sister, Bianca, who is seen as the at all? These are important questions "ideal" woman. On the other hand, the play has also that have sparked centuries of debate. been adored by many fans from its beginning. For all its controversy, Whether or not one thinks the play is Shrew remains one of the most vile, hilarious, or some combination of performed and adapted plays in the two, asking tough questions and Shakespeare's body of work. It has thinking hard about the problems been transformed numerous times for posed by the text is a good thing. It stage, screen, opera, ballet and forces us to question our own ; perhaps the most assumptions about "proper" gender famous adaptations being Cole roles and attitudes about the power Porter's Kiss Me, Kate and the 1967 dynamics between romantic couples, film of the play, starring Elizabeth friends – even family. Taylor and . The 1999 high school comedy film 10 Things I Hate About You is also loosely based on the play.

2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE Synopsis Act 1 In the Ford Theatre in Baltimore, the Two gangsters arrive to collect the Kate, however, has no intentions of cast of a musical version of William $10,000 IOU from Fred, who insists getting married (I Hate Men). Shakespeare’s The Taming of the that he never signed it. The gangsters Nonetheless, Petruchio attempts to Shrew rehearses for the opening of threaten him, saying he better woo her (Were Thine That Special the show that evening (Another remember the debt and they will return Face). Offstage, Lilli has an Op’nin’, Another Show). later. In her dressing room, Lilli opportunity to read the card and we receives flowers from Fred, and she hear her angry reaction from offstage. Director/producer/leading man Fred realizes that she is still So In Love. She enters off-cue and begins hitting Graham stars as Petruchio, and his Fred, who tries to remain in character ex-wife, movie star Lilli Vanessi, is Fred realizes that Paul, his dresser as Baptista grants Petruchio playing Katherine. The two argue has delivered flowers and a love note permission to marry Kate. Finally, in incessantly, and Lilli is particularly intended for Lois to Lilli instead. He exasperation, Fred steps out of the angered by Fred’s flirtation with the tries to prevent Lilli from reading the play and throws Lilli over his shoulder, attractive young actress Lois Lane, card, but Lilli takes the card with her carrying her offstage as he spanks her who is playing Bianca. onstage, saying she will read it later. and she spanks him. The stage manager and the cast attempt to keep the show going as chaos ensues. After the rehearsal, Lois’ boyfriend Bill The show begins (We Open in appears; he is playing Lucentio, but he Venice). Baptista, Katherine and missed the rehearsal because he was Bianca’s wealthy father, will not allow Offstage, Lilli furiously declares she is gambling. He tells her that he signed a his younger daughter Bianca to marry leaving the show. However, the $10,000 IOU in Fred’s name, and Lois until his older daughter Katherine is gangsters have reappeared, and Fred reprimands him (Why Can’t You married. But Kate is ill tempered, and tells them that if Lilli quits, he’ll have to Behave?). no man wants to marry her. close the show and won’t be able to pay them the $10,000. The gangsters, at gunpoint, force Lilli to stay. As they prepare for the performance in Three suitors, Lucentio, Hortensio and their adjoining dressing rooms, Fred Gremio, try to woo Bianca, and she and Lilli continue teasing each other, says that she would marry any of them Onstage, Bianca and Lucentio and the and Lilli shows off her engagement (Tom, Dick or Harry). Petruchio, a cast dance together (Cantiamo ring from General Harrison Howell, a friend of Lucentio, arrives, expressing d’Amor). Petruchio and Kate, newly Washington insider. She reminds Fred a desire to marry into wealth (I’ve wed, exit the church, followed by the that it’s the anniversary of their Come to Wive it Wealthily in Padua). gangsters, now dressed in Shrew divorce. They then reminisce about The suitors hatch a plan for him to costumes. Petruchio implores Kate to the operetta they were both appearing marry Kate. kiss him, and she refuses. He finally in when they met (Wunderbar). carries her offstage (Kiss Me, Kate).

Costume designs by Jason Orlenko

AUDIENCE GUIDE | KISS ME, KATE Synopsis: Act II

During the show’s intermission, the cast and crew relax in the alley behind the theater. Paul, Fred’s assistant, along with a other cast members, lament that it’s to meet their lovers that night. The play continues, and Petruchio, exhausted from ‘taming’ Katherine, mourns for his now-lost bachelor life (Where Is the Life That Late I Led?).

Offstage, Lilli’s fiancé Harrison Howell looks for her. He runs into Lois, who recognizes him as a former lover but promises not to tell Lilli. Bill is shocked to overhear this, but Lois tells him that even if she is involved with other men, she is faithful to him in her own way (Always True to You in My Fashion).

Lilli tries to explain to General Howell that she is being forced to stay at the theatre by the gangsters, but Howell doesn’t believe her and wants to discuss wedding plans (From This Moment On).

Fred sarcastically points out how boring Lilli’s life would be if she stayed in the theatre rather than keeping house for the General and living on an allowance. Bill sings a he has written for Lois (Bianca).

The gangsters discover that their boss has been killed, so the IOU is no longer valid. Lilli leaves as Fred unsuccessfully tries to convince her to stay (So in Love Reprise). The gangsters get caught on stage and improvise a tribute to the Bard (Brush Up Your Shakespeare). The company is on stage for the conclusion of the play, the wedding of Bianca and Lucentio, despite Lilli’s absence. Just in time, Lilli enters and delivers Kate’s final speech beautifully (I Am Ashamed That People Are So Simple). Fred and Lilli reconcile on stage, and the play ends with the two couples united (Finale).

All costume designs by Jason Orlenko

2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE The Porter Style lyric based on a long and entertaining list of similarities or contrasts that ticked off the love habits of birds, flowers, fish, insects, animals and various types of humans. While You’re the Top is an exercise in finding superlatives that include "the nimble tread of the feet of Fred Astaire,” “a Shakespeare sonnet, a Bendel bonnet, you’re Mickey Mouse!" And he could get corny and folksy with tunes like Don’t Fence Me In and Friendship or sweetly romantic with True Love and So In Love. Porter was a careful craftsman whose work won the admiration of his peers. Composer said, "Few people realize how architecturally excellent his music is. There's a foundation, a structure and Cole Porter wrote both the lyrics and an embellishment. Then you add the without being banal. I try to pick my music for his songs, with so much emotion he's put in and the result is- rhyme words from a long list with the individuality that critics and fans Cole Porter." same ending.” created a new genre known as "the David Lehman in his book, A Fine Cole Porter style.” Porter’s busy, almost frenetic social Romance: Jewish , life never interfered with his creativity. The hallmarks of a typical Porter song American Songs tells the story of a Although he wrote mainly for were lyrics that were urbane or witty struggling young Porter meeting the Broadway, most of his songs were and a melody with a sinuous, brooding already famous Rodgers and telling written far from Broadway. He wrote strain. Some of his best-known songs him “I finally figured out the secret of during a round-the- world cruise and with that quality were What Is This writing hits...I’ll write Jewish tunes.” while he was cruising down the Rhine. Thing Called Love, Night and Day, And he did, in minor-key masterpieces Love for Sale and Begin the Beguine. such as Everytime We Say Goodbye, “I’ve done lots of work at dinner, sitting And he relished a grammatical In the Still of the Night, I Love Paris between two bores," he once said. “I challenge such as Were Thine That and many more. The music in can feign listening beautifully. I can Special Face from Kiss Me, Kate, theatre was probably influential, while work anywhere.” Proof of that is written entirely in the subjunctive case. the synagogue-derived “sound of certainly in the fact that in the hours lamentation” threads through many of immediately after his fateful horse Yet, an equally typical and his songs, and his minor-key melodies riding accident, as he waited for recognizable Porter song, Let's Do It, are unmistakably eastern emergency medical help, he has a simple, bouncy melody and a Mediterranean flavored. composed in his head the lyrics for what became At Long Last Love. “It’s ironic,” wrote Rodgers, despite the

abundance of Jewish composers, (like Rodgers, Berlin, Kern, Gershwin) “the most enduring ‘Jewish’ music” was

written by an Episcopalian millionaire from Peru, Indiana.”

Porter explained how he worked. “First I think of an idea for a song and then I fit it to a title. Then I go to work on a melody, spotting the title at certain moments in the melody. Then I write the lyric, the end first, that way it has a strong finish...I do the lyrics the way I'd do a crossword puzzle. I try to give myself a meter which will make the lyric as easy as possible to write, but

AUDIENCE GUIDE | KISS ME, KATE Definitions of some theatre and historical references Merde!: This is a term to wish “Good The Group Theatre: A theater Luck” in ballet and opera. It is a collective based in New York City and French exclamation, literally "Shit!" formed in 1931 by , The history of "merde" begins in the Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg. 19th-century, when patrons of the They were pioneers of what would Paris Opéra would arrive at the theatre become an "American acting in horse-drawn carriages. If there was technique," derived from the teachings a full house, there was sure to be a lot of Konstantin Stanislavski, based in a of horse manure in front of the theater. forceful, naturalistic and highly Saying "merde" became a way for disciplined artistry. performers to wish each other a full and approving audience. Dowry: The property and money that a woman brings to her husband at Hoofer: A professional dancer, marriage. In Kiss Me, Kate Petruchio especially a tap dancer. boastfully sings, “I’ve come to wive it wealthily in Padua.” Sarah Bernhardt: (1844 – 1923) Bernhardt was a French stage actress, The Theatre Guild: A theatrical regarded as one the finest actresses society founded in New York City in of the 19th century. She was the first 1918 for the production of high-quality, actor to become a worldwide celebrity. noncommercial American and foreign Baltimore’s Ford Theatre: plays. The Guild had a long Once a popular venue for Broadway- Cyrano de Bergerac is a verse drama association with George Bernard bound productions. the Ford in in five acts by Edmond Rostand, Shaw and Eugene O’Neill and also Baltimore opened in 1871. Gilbert and based on a 17th-century nobleman of produced works by Pulitzer Prize Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore made its the same name, known for his bold winners Sidney Howard, William American debut there and almost adventures and large nose. Cyrano is Saroyan, and every theatrical star played its stage. a favorite role for actors. Robert Sherwood. The Theatre Guild The building gained a reputation as a contributed significantly to American haven for animals from a cat named Peer Gynt: A five-act play in verse by musical theatre by producing George Dickie who occasionally wandered on the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, Gershwin and DuBose Heyward’s stage during shows to deer in the it is one of the most widely performed and Richard Rodgers balcony and bats in the dressing Norwegian plays. It is also an opera by and Oscar Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! rooms. Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Kinsey Report In Kiss Me Kate, there is a reference Barter Theatre: Located in Abingdon, The Kinsey Reports are two books to the theatre's small audiences of Virginia, it opened in 1933 during the on human sexual behavior, Sexual later years. In 1964, after the final Great Depression, when most patrons Behavior in the Human Male (1948) curtain, the audience sang Auld Lang were unable to pay the full ticket price and Sexual Behavior in the Human Syne. The theatre was then razed and and paid admittance with food goods, Female (1953) by , a became a parking lot. hence the name "Barter". Many well- zoologist at and the known actors got their start there founder of the Kinsey Institute for Cheat out: To turn toward the including Gregory Peck, Ernest Research in Sex, Gender, and audience more than would be natural, Borgnine, Patricia Neal, Ned Beatty Reproduction. for instance in a staged conversation. and .

Break a Leg: Well-wishers typically L.B. Mayer: Louis Burt Mayer was an say "Break a leg" to performers before American film producer and a founder they go on stage to wish them "good of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios luck”. This originated in Music Hall/ (MGM) in 1924. Under his Vaudeville days in the 1800s. It refers management, MGM became the film to the leg or curtain used to mask the industry's most prestigious movie offstage wings. Producers had acts on studio, accumulating the largest stand-by to fill the bill and if they didn’t concentration of leading writers, actually appear on stage, or get to directors and stars in Hollywood. break the visual plane of the leg line, they received no fee. “Break a Leg” became a wish that you would get on stage and be paid for a performance.

2018-2019 | SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Louella Parsons (above, 1881 – 1972) Dewey Defeats Truman was an

Between 1915 and 1960, she was incorrect headline on the front page of

America's premier movie gossip the Daily Tribune on columnist who commanded a following November 3, 1948, the day after of more than forty million readers. incumbent US President Harry S. Hollywood celebrities feared her. Fans Truman won an upset victory over loved her for her "just folks," Republican challenger and small-town image. Parsons became Governor of New York, Thomas E. notorious for her involvement in the Dewey. It was famously held up by Dior and his “New Look” suppression of the 1941 film, Citizen Truman the morning after his Christian Dior (1905 – 1957) was a Kane and her use of blackmail in the successful election, smiling French fashion designer and founder service of Hearst's political and triumphantly at the error. of one of the world's top fashion personal agendas. houses. When Dior launched his fashion collection in 1947, it quickly became known as the "New Look." The revolutionary style featured a silhouette characterized by a small, nipped-in waist and a full skirt falling below mid-calf length, which emphasized the bust and hips. The collection overall showcased more stereotypically feminine designs in contrast to the popular fashions of wartime. The New Look was welcomed as a refreshing antidote to the austerity of wartime and de- General Harrison Howell is modeled “A sensible Republican cloth coat” feminizing uniforms. on General Douglas MacArthur (1880 – This line in the show refers to “The 1964, above), a well-known officer with a Checkers speech” made in 1952 by distinguished record in World War I. Republican Vice Presidential Just a note of thanks to my He was recalled to active duty in 1941, candidate Richard Nixon. He’d been Audience Guide partner for fifteen to become commander of US Army accused of improprieties relating to a years, Justine Leonard. She has Forces in the Pacific War between the fund established to reimburse him for generously volunteered her time and US and Japan. President Roosevelt his political expenses. Nixon delivered been my trusted and invaluable ordered MacArthur to retreat to a television address in which he collaborator on these guides. I Australia, where MacArthur made his defended himself, stating that couldn't have done it without her. famous speech in which he declared, regardless of what anyone said, he To quote Cole Porter: "I came through and I shall return." intended to keep one gift given to his This statement is echoed by General children: a black-and-white dog named It was just one of those things, Howell in Kiss Me, Kate. Checkers, thus giving the address its Just one of those crazy flings, popular name. One of those bells Noel Coward reference: that now and then rings, In dialogue between Fred and General Nixon outlined his families assets and Just one of those things. Howell, Fred quotes a Noel Coward liabilities including their mortgaged play, saying, “Women should be struck homes in Washington and California. So good bye, dear, and amen, regularly, like gongs.” It is a line from He concluded with, “I should say this, Here's hoping we meet now and then, his 1930 comedy, Private Lives. that Pat doesn't have a mink coat. But It was great fun she does have a respectable But it was just one of those things. Republican cloth coat. And I always tell her that she'd look good in With gratitude, anything!” Ray

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