"ANOTHER OPENING OF ANOTHER SHOW"
Comments and observations compiled by Emma Shane
Welcome
to light-hearted collection of comments dedicated Louise Gold’s performance as
Kate in the Regents Park Open Air Theatre production of KISS ME KATE, with
apologies to Cole Porter, Bella and Samuel Spewack.
"That’s no excuse for adlibbing"
This was a production which got off to
an unfortunate start. On the opening night it rained heavily, the critics brave
the rain - Michael Billington’s umbrella coming in for a lot of comments
from his colleagues.
Director Ian Talbot was slightly
the worse for a drink when he addressed the audience after a second downpour
and wound up swearing at them, about those audience members who had left.
The
Cast braved the rain too: Issy Van Randwyck, Debby Bishop and the
rest of the company hoofed their way through a slippery Another Opening
Another Show. Andrew C Wadsworth and Louise Gold tried
warbling Wunderbar above the rain. Louise even threw in an add
lib, to stop the audience laughing, she changed "Oh this heat"
to "Oh this rain".
But all to know avail, for only the
second time in the entire history of this theatre, and their first time since
1954, the opening night was actually rained off.
Writing
in the News of the World, Bill Hagerty sums it up best:
"When
leading lady Louise Gold burst into tears after Kiss Me Kate was rained off
mid-pucker on opening night at the Regents Park Open Air Theatre, it was like
pouring water on a drowning man." Bill Hagerty, THE NEWS OF THE
WORLD, 27 July 1997
Other critics wrote:
"Her Lilli threw in some
splendid adlibs, cussing the rain rather than the heat as she struggled into
costume in her aquatic dressing room." Kate Bassett, DAILY TELEGRAPH, 26
July 1997
"On went the show with Louise
Gold’s Lilli Vanessi and Andrew C Wadsworth’s Fred Graham offering a lively
comic version of Wunderbar. At least I think thats what they were doing. As the
rain intensified it was difficult to see through the forest of brollies." Michael Billington, THE GUARDIAN, 26 July 1997
"Not until Gold stomped off with
a growl of "Oh, this heat!" did it become impossible to pretend it
wasn’t raining. The audience roared. - And on went the show to wild applause,
though this time Gold was careful to say "Oh, this rain!" when she
stomped off. She and Wadsworth danced about in their dressing gowns singing
Wunderbar, oblivious to the drizzle. - "On swaggered Gold in her role as
Katherine, looking and sounding tremendous. :...." Benedict Nightingale, THE TIMES, 26
July 1997
"Another job which you hope at last will make your
future forget your past"
It is important to remember that 1997
was a great year for West End Musicals, what with both Maria Friedman’s Lady
In The Dark and Ruthie Henshall, Ute Lemper and Henry
Goodman’s big revival of Chicago - no other show stood much
of a chance to gain any awards.
However
Kiss Me Kate received three nominations, namely Best
Production (the award actually went to Chicago), It was also nominated
for Best Actor in A Musical and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical.
But when it came to Best Actress in a musical there was just too much
competition and the nominations went to Maria Friedman for Lady in
the Dark, Sian Reeves for Marlene, Ruthie Henshall
and Ute Lemper for Chicago and was won by the latter.
"Three Weeks and It Couldn’t Be Worse"
Like any other theatrical production
this one must have had its share of miss-haps and problems, here is one
description:
On
one performance the leads appeared to be having a few problems with an errant
Shrew costume. We were at the point in the play where Fred Graham had just
discovered his flowers had been mis-delivered. He goes round to Lilli’s
dressing room, in the hope of preventing her from reading the note. As our
leading lady entered it soon became obvious that her petticoat had not been
securely fastened, for it began to slip down awkwardly. She, realising it was
becoming a nuisance kicked it off and exited, leaving it lying on the stage to
be picked up by her leading man, as he exited.
By
the time she entered as the Shrew she had a least got the errant slip securely
fastened, Then while Kate and Petruchio were rolling around on the floor her hairband
managed to fall off, she exited, again leaving the leading man to retrieve part
of her costume, he then tried to hand this back to her during the backstage
argument Scene.
"One Week Will It Ever Be Right"
On
another occasion Louise Gold managed to sing one of the lyrics of I
Hate Men back-to-front, coming out with:
"Since
love is blind then all women kind, from the mind, should route ‘em"
“No Stars Like LB Mayer’s Are We”
While they may not be film stars, apart
from being able to do the things you expect actors in musicals to be able to do
(Sing, Tap-dance, and, Act), several
members of the troupe do posses a variety of hidden talents, for example:
supporting actress Dutch Barroness Issy Van Ranwyck can of course clog
dance. Meanwhile leading man Andrew C Wadsworth’s talents range from
singing opera to playing the Ukulele; And leading lady Louise Gold is an
accomplished (and quite notable) puppeteer.
"What A Trouper What A Personality"
I overhead one member of the audience
being moved to remark, on reading the leading lady’s resume.
"Some
performers are disgustingly talented"
Which does, one must admit, pretty well
sum up Louise Gold.
"Dispening fol-de-rol frivolity"
When asked in a newspaper interview
(between 20 and 24 July, unfortunately I do not know what newspaper this is
from, although it might have been The Independent) if she had a favourite song
from Kiss Me Kate, Louise Gold replied
"I
suppose So In Love because its so beautiful, but I love doing Wunderbar, which is
a spoof operetta number. I can really let myself go with that one"
"What The Hell Do You Mean By Poking Me In The
Ribs?"
The actors who played the warring couple
in this production first encountered each other, 11 years earlier, when she saw
a production of Girlfriends, by Howard Goodall, at Oldham
Coliseum, that he was appearing in. Andrew C Wadsworth recounted
their painful introduction to Arts Correspondent Robin Stringer
(unfortunately I do not know what newspaper this is from, although it may have
been The Evening Standard, on 24th July 1997)
"She
was sitting in the bar with her legs crossed bouncing her feet. I was minding
my own business. She was being a bit frisky and kicked me in the crotch."
That incident may not have been
incorporated into the show, however, in the same article, Robin Stringer quotes
Louise Gold on the subject of their fight scenes
""I
do get to slap him around the face a lot." she says with relish"
“Sister, Content You With My Discontent”
Five years later, due to the complications of having a baby, Dutch
clog-dancing Baroness Issy Van Randwyck, was unable to appear as the
special cabaret artiste in the Hampstead & Highgate Arts Festival
Cabaret Special. Perhaps there was a certain irony in the choice of her
last minute replacement, in the form of the wonderful English
actress-cum-puppeteer Louise Gold, who had after all had played Kate to
the Baroness’s Bianca. See:
“Louise Gold Sings Some Nice Songs”.
“You Know Baltimore”
Five years later, in 2002, “Only the second time this has
happened in living memory” (according to The Stage), and the
third time in the entire history of The Regents Park Open Air Theatre,
another show at the theatre, Rachel Kavanaugh’s production of As
You Like It, suffered the same opening night fate as Kiss Me Kate,
when it too had it’s opening night rained off.
“Brush Up Your Shakespeare” - (In Richmond)
It is perhaps notable that both leading actors, at some point or
other in their career, have found themselves singing Brush Up Your
Shakespeare on the stage of Richmond Theatre in Surrey. Two
years prior to Kiss Me Kate Louise Gold cracked a whip
while singing the song, see Noel/Cole: Let’s
Do It. While seven years after appearing in Kiss Me Kate
it was Andrew C Wadsworth’s turn in Zipp.
| Return To Site Guide | Return
To Stage Musicals | Return To Kiss Me Kate |