Kiss Me Kate
Louise Gold
starred as Lilli Vanessi/Kate in The New Shakespeare Company Production, at
Regents Park Open Air Theatre from 24 July to 1 September 1997
Cast:
Fred Graham/Petruchio - Andrew
C Wadsworth
Harry Trevor/Baptista - John
Griffiths
Lilli Vanessi/Kate - Louise
Gold
Hattie - Debby Bishop
Stage Doorman - Tony Whittle
Paul - Gary Bryden
Bill Calhoun.Lucentio - Graeme
Henderson
First Gangster - Gavin Muir
Second Gangster - Rob Edwards
Harrison Howell - Jonathan
Elsom
Gremio - Paul Bentley
Ralph/Hortensio - Paul Thornley
Haberdasher - Oliver Jackson
Cab Driver - Jonathan Elsom
Petruchio's
Servants: Adam Sims, Ian Sanders, Tony Whittle, Rebecca
Hartley, Alexandra Sumner and Lucy Quick
Messengers: Oliver Jackson
and Simon Penman
Chauffer - Ian Sanders
Other parts played by members of the company.
Production Team
Music/Lyrics - Cole Porter
Book - Bella and Samuel
Spewack
Based on "The Taming Of The
Shrew" by William Shakespeare
Original Production – 30 December
1948, New
Director - Ian Talbot
Designer - Paul Farnsworth
Musical Director - Catherine
Jayes
Choreographer - Lisa Kent
Lighting Designer - Jason
Taylor
Sound Designer - Simon Whitehorn
Dialect Coach - Charmian Hoare
Assistant Director - Pete
Harris
Music Arranged by - Steve Edis
and Catherine Jayes
Sound System -Orbital
For a full review
please click here.
For "Another Opening…" - a light-hearted collection of facts, observations and comments about the production, please click here.
6 years after
starring in The Boys From Syracuse and A
Midsummer Night's Dream, and immediately
after a spell in The Royal Shakespeare
Company, Louise Gold returned to
The New Shakespeare Company at The Regents Park Open Air Theatre, to star in Kiss
Me Kate.
Kiss Me
Kate was presented in
repertory with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alls Well That
Ends Well, the actual dates of the performances were: Previews from 22
and 23 July 1997. Performances (scheduled): 24 to 29 July, 7 to 14 August, and
26 August to 1 September 1997.
It is known
that on Saturday 16 August 1997 some members of The New Shakespeare Company,
accompanied by musical director Catherine
Jayes performed a ‘Cabaret In The Park’, but it is not
known which members of the company took part (nor if Louise Gold could have been among them, it is possible, but not
very likely since Kiss Me Kate was not playing that day).
Five years
later Issy Van Randwyck,
Designer
Louise Gold and Issy Van Randyck had previously
appeared together in the Lost Musicals productions of Love
Life and By
Jupiter.
Louise Gold and
Issy Van
Randwyck, and various other
members of the cast, including Louise Gold, appeared in the charity show
Hot ‘n’ Spicy 2
Issy Van
Randwyck’s recording credits
include: Encore The Very
Best From The Musicals , Cole
Porter - Night And Day, The
History Of The Musical, and, The Great
Musicals – Laughter And Tears.
Louise Gold
has appeared in quite a number of
Cole Porter musicals, besides Kiss Me Kate, she has also
appeared in the Ethel Merman quintet of shows: Anything Goes, Red
Hot & Blue, Du Barry Was A Lady (see: Du Barry Was A Lady (1993 Production)
and Du Barry Was A Lady (2001 Production)),
Panama Hattie, and, Something For The Boys, she has also
appeared in Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It, and,
Mexican Hayride. However, she has made all
too few recordings, the only albums of her singing Cole Porter are Noel/Cole: Let’s Do It (Recording),
and the JAY/TER studio cast album of Anything Goes (recording) - Website Recommended Album.
Unfortunately
the opening night was rained off, for only the second time in this Open Air
theatre's entire 43 year history.
The Show
received 3 Olivier Nominations, but did not win any, they were: The Show itself
for Best Musical Revival, Andrew C Wadsworth for Best Actor In A
Musical, and, Issy Van Randwyck for Best Supporting Actress In A
Musical. But the leading lady was left out.
Five years
later Louise Gold performed her own act cabaret “Louise Gold Sings Some
Nice Songs” at the Hampstead &
Highgate Arts Festival Cabaret Special, as a last minute replacement
for Issy Van Randwyck.
Louise Gold and
Louise Gold and
Issy Van
Randwyck went on to appear at Dress Circle Grand Reopening
Orbital went on to do the sound systems for Noises Off, Side By
Side By Sondheim 30th Anniversary Gala, and, A Love Letter To Dan.
Rob Edwards went on to appear on television in A Week In The West End, where he was
shown performing in The Lion King.
Issy Van Randwyck, and,
Debby Bishop may have previously taken part in Thing A Thon.
Critics
Comments
"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
“Brush up your Shakespeare with Cole Porter's tremendous backstage
musical comedy about a touring company in The Taming of The Shrew. Louise Gold
knocks 'em dead.” David Benedict, CUTAIN CALLS in THE INDEPENDENT, Saturday 9 August 1997.
"As the commanding shrew, Louise Gold has the roar
of a wounded dragon"
"Louise Gold is outstanding as Lilli Vanessi, the
actress who plays Katherine: as good at the mock-operatic bits as the fierce
indictment of men" Robert Butler, INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY, 3 August
1997
"Louise Gold as Lilli Vanessi/Katherine was
beautifully disdainful - and golden voiced in 'So In Love Am I' " Susannah
Clapp, OBSERVER, 27 July 1997
"Louise
Gold and Andrew C Wadsworth,- strike an ideal balance between surface bravura
and emotional warmth"
"Andrew C Wadsworth plays- Fred Graham and Louise
Gold Lilli Vanessi. - the acrimonious chemistry between the two works well. -
Gold meanwhile is excellent, pouring feeling into So In Love and comic venom
into I Hate Men. - The comic Laurels are stolen by
"Louise Gold, as his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi, sings
more than sweetly and invests a good deal of spirited playing in the role"
"Cole Porter is on sensational form and gets a
cast to match. Louise Gold rises gamely to his challenge of the egotistical
star Lilli." Robert Gore-Langton, EXPRESS, 31 July 1997
"Louise Gold had given a powerful rendition of So
In Love Am I, and in conjunction with Andrew C Wadsworth, a hilarious one of
Wunderbar." John Gross, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 27 July 1997
"We saw and heard enough of Ms Gold, who sings
beautifully, Andres C Wadsworth the suave leading man, and the bubbly Issy Van
Randwyck, to know it will take thunder, lightning and probably a snowstorm to
sink
"Louise Gold is his staturesque Katherine, who
brings the house down with I Hate Men" Robert Hewison, SUNDAY
TIMES, 3 August 1997
"Andrew C Wadsworth as Fred/Petruchio and Louise
Gold as Lilli/Katherine led the cast with well-timed comic performances, - she
conveying contemptuous dislike and searing lust in one look. Both are old hands
at putting a good song across." Jane Holly, MUSICAL STAGES, Autumn
1997
"Good voices coupled with good acting are the two
boons of this production. - Feisty Katherine (Louise Gold) goes from winsomely
romantic in So In Love Am I to elegantly snarling fury in I Hate Men."
Sam Jones,
"Louise Gold's Kate is magnificently full-blooded
and affectedly feline." Patrick Marmion, TIME OUT, 30 July 1997
"Louise Gold and Andrew C Wadsworth could tighten up
their comic timing, but they regularly shine in their solo numbers." Lisa
Martland, THE STAGE,
Louise Gold is a wonderfully feisty Kate" Sheridan
Morley, SPECTATOR, 2 August 1997
"Louise Gold, as Kate/Lilli, can act, is handsome
and sings wonderfully well;" David Nathan, JEWISH CHRONICLE, 15
August 1997
"On swaggered Gold in her role as Katherine,
looking and sounding tremendous…." Benedict Nightingale, THE TIMES,
26 July 1997
“Gold is a suitably icy
and formidable Lilli.” Terri Paddock, Whatsonestage.com, July 1997
"Louise Gold is a comically commanding figure -
outdoing herself in campy gorge-rising revulsion and contentious, drop-dead
postures on each successive verse of "I Hate Men". This is one of the
most brilliant Broadway scores ever written and it is delivered here by
performers who really know how to pace the song. - They can quote me"
"Gold gets raucous vocal support from the women in
the audience in her venomous performance of "I Hate Men". There was
also more sparky dueling between the majestic Ms Gold and the bouncy Issy Van
Randwyck." Anthony Thorncroft, FINANCIAL TIMES, 1 August 1997
"I do not think there has been a better and
funnier rendition of I Hate Men - then that of Louise Gold who ha all the
passion of Kate and yet manages to retain the sweetness and humour without
which the character could not be borne. Ms Gold, in danger of being known as
The English Ethel Merman, has added a new dimension to her work, learning to
control her powerful voice and revealing a soprano range which is precise and
electrifying: sensual in So In Love and operatic in the comic number
Wunderbar" Aline Waites PLAYS AND PLAYERS, October 1997
Links about Kiss Me Kate
Muppet Central/Tibby's Bowl Interview with Louise Gold http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/gold.shtml
Review from
The International Herald Tribune, by
Summary Review Extracts on Abermule: http://www.albemarle-london.com/news-august.html
More
Extracts from Abermule: http://www.albemarle-london.com/kissmekate97.html
Whatsonestage.com
review: http://www.whatsonstage.com/dl/page.php?page=greenroom&chan=wos&story=E0504428207
Dress
Circle Interview with Issy Van Randwyck: http://www.dresscircle.co.uk/sectionitemdetails.asp?ContentID=226&SectionID=5
Comments in
Musical Mole’s Bullietin Burrow: http://www.musicalstages.co.uk/news/bulletin_burrow_responses.htm on the matter of unfairness in the Oliver Awards,
and overlooked actresses
Regents
Park Theatre History (details of a fairly comprehensive book by David Corville): http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1840027347?ie=UTF8&tag=thestageonlin-21&link_code=em1&camp=2502&creative=11130&creativeASIN=1840027347&adid=915cf43c-6d60-4437-9888-3880a64a05ba
A review, by
The Independent’s Curtain Calls (theatre round up): http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/curtain-calls-1244552.html
- includes a mention of the show.
Return To Site
Guide | Return To Stage Musicals | Kiss Me Kate Review | Another Opening… |