Today's entry is Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate, the original cast recording from 1949. That makes the first "repeat" performer on my entries to be the unlikely Lisa Kirk, who was in Mack & Mabel and originated the role of Lois/Bianca in Kate.
And I get another one of my favorite singers, Alfred Drake. You probably won't have to wait too many more days to hear me wax rhapsodic again about Mr. Drake and the roles he sang--Curly in Oklahoma, Hajj in Kismet, and the "Maurice Chevalier" role in Gigi. Ooh, I just checked out Drake's credits on the Broadway database and he did a bunch of Gilbert & Sullivan and was Macheath in Duke Ellington's musical Beggar's Holiday.
I've never seen Kiss Me Kate on stage, but I have seen the film. I really only remember the weird camera angles to try to make the 3-D affects for the film. And Ann Miller's whirling dervish tap number at the opening of the film. But I'm here to take about this cast album...
The extensive notes to this CD reissue spend a lot of time taking about the dealings between composer Cole Porter and book writer Bella Spewack, which didn't really captivate me (this back story, I mean, not the book of the musical).
Kiss Me Kate
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Bella and Samuel Spewack
Originally released by Columbia Records in 1949
Reissued on CD by Columbia Masterworks in 1998
Cast: Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang
And I get another one of my favorite singers, Alfred Drake. You probably won't have to wait too many more days to hear me wax rhapsodic again about Mr. Drake and the roles he sang--Curly in Oklahoma, Hajj in Kismet, and the "Maurice Chevalier" role in Gigi. Ooh, I just checked out Drake's credits on the Broadway database and he did a bunch of Gilbert & Sullivan and was Macheath in Duke Ellington's musical Beggar's Holiday.
I've never seen Kiss Me Kate on stage, but I have seen the film. I really only remember the weird camera angles to try to make the 3-D affects for the film. And Ann Miller's whirling dervish tap number at the opening of the film. But I'm here to take about this cast album...
The extensive notes to this CD reissue spend a lot of time taking about the dealings between composer Cole Porter and book writer Bella Spewack, which didn't really captivate me (this back story, I mean, not the book of the musical).
Kiss Me Kate
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Bella and Samuel Spewack
Originally released by Columbia Records in 1949
Reissued on CD by Columbia Masterworks in 1998
Cast: Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk, Harold Lang
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