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| | Kiss Me, Kate (1999 Broadway Revival Cast) | | | Music Artist : | | Cole Porter | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Drg | | Release Date : | | 2000-01-25 | | Store Price : | | $16.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $16.98 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Another Op'nin', Another Show - Hattie & the Company
2. Why Can't You Behave?
3. Wunderbar
4. So in Love
5. We Open in Venice
6. Tom, Dick, or Harry
7. I've Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua
8. I Hate Men
9. Were Thine That Special Face
10. Cantiamo d'Amore
11. Kiss Me, Kate
12. Too Darn Hot
13. Where Is the Life That Late I Led?
14. Always True to You (In My Fashion)
15. Bianca
16. So in Love (Reprise)
17. Brush up Your Shakespeare
18. Pavane
19. I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple
20. Kiss Me, Kate (Finale)
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 A cheesy 90's revival.
Submitted on: 2009-11-10 |
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This revival did not seek to preserve Kiss Me Kate as a museum piece, which in itself is not a terrible goal. However, in the process of 'modernizing' the score, Paul Gemignani has instead given us breezy, breathtaking tempos and jazz-inflected arrangements that turn this wonderful score into a cheesey musical revue. How sad, because this score in its original form was a landmark of American musical theatre. In fact this show has never received a decent revival, and the movie version of the 50's is so watered down and sanitized that it barely resembles the original show. If you can find it, I recommend the John McGlinn studio recording of the early 90's on EMI (now sadly out of print, but occasionally available on Ebay) which faithfully reproduces Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations and gives the listener a much better souvenir of Porter's masterpiece.
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 AN ENTERTAINING, MISGUIDED REVIVAL . . . . .
Submitted on: 2007-01-04 |
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When KISS ME, KATE opened in Philadelphia on December 2, 1948, "the show and its dazzling cast . . . elicited an avalanche of critical praise. Not one song was added, dropped, or shifted in position from that moment until the Broadway opening, nor was the book altered significantly." (from Miles Kruger's notes for the 1990 EMI recording) Therefore, if something is so perfect, why mess with it? Why try to update it? Why attempt to ". . . [invigorate] the material with a contemporary sensibility that permeates everything: the way it looks, the way it plays, the way it sounds." (from Sheryl Flatow's note to the 1999 DRG recording) Would anyone even consider putting a blond wig and a push-up bra on the Mona Lisa?
Not that "the classics" should be never be fiddled with. It happens all the time with Shakespeare and Verdi and Puccini - sometimes with pleasing results. Sometimes not. The 2005 rethinking of SWEENEY TODD works admirably well (although I still prefer the original, more operatic version) and I understand so does the new revival of COMPANY. Both can be understood as reinventions that clarify and enhance character and motive. But this KATE doesn't work, because it's just Mona Lisa in a push-up bra.
The fault doesn't lie so much with the singers as it does with the concept. Perhaps KATE played differently on stage, but recording producer Hugh Fordin is quoted in the liner notes as saying, "I want a cast album to sound as if the performers are doing the show for you in your living room." How preposterous! Has he seen the size of my living room? Musical director Paul Gemignani says, "I pick up the pace, so the music is faster on the recording. I do that because the listener doesn't have visuals, and because it energizes the performers." Really, but at what cost. Brian Stokes Mitchell is forced to sing "Where Is the Life That Late I Led" at such a pace that it loses all nuance. Compare it to Alfred Drake on the original or to Thomas Hampson's on the EMI recording and you'll understand. Marin Mazzie has the most pleasing voice of all the Lili Vanessi/Kate's on record. Her "I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple" is lovely, but someone unwisely encouraged her to do some extremely ugly vocalizing during "I Hate Men." I see visions of nodes growing on her vocal chords as she growls through this number. Mazzie could take a lesson from Patricia Morrison on how to sing angrily without abusing the voice. Michael Berresse is a fine Bill/Lucentio, but Amy Spanger is too much of an air-head, dumb blonde (see Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS) for me. I prefer the 1948 (also 1959) original Lois Lane (Lisa Kirk), a fully mature and confident woman who definitely knows her way around men.
But most irritating of all, this KISS ME KATE, like many other recent revivals, does NOT SOUND LIKE BROADWAY! Robert Russell Bennett's marvelous orchestrations have been discarded and replaced by Don Sebesky's wimpy Las Vegas-style arrangements. Even though "So in Love" is beautifully sung by both stars, it sounds more lke "Sinatra at the Sands" than Broadway. And what's with the "Steam Heat"/"Cool" intro to "Too Darn Hot." This is Cole Porter, not Leonard Bernstein or Adler & Ross.
All carping aside, there is much to recommend this recording. But for authentic Broadway, you're better off with the original 1948 Broadway cast recording, even with its dated sound. The 1959 Angel "Reassembled Original Cast" benefits from better sound, but the performances aren't as fresh as they were 11 years earlier. John McGlinn's 1990 EMI "complete" recording offers excellent sound, an outstanding orchestra & chorus, every note & every lyric written for the show, a rather stiff-sounding Thomas Hampson, a Lois Lane/Bianca (Kim Criswell) almost as good as Lisa Kirk, and the strangest-sounding Kate you'll ever hear (Dame Josephine Barstow). An essential recording, it is now out of print.
The choice? Simple, you must have one of each. |
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broadway buff
Submitted on: 2006-03-20 |
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This is a case of fixing something that ain't broke. Cole Porter is a master of musical score, his genius lies in the superbly witty blend of the story line, lyrics, and score. Technically this recording may be superior to the original 1950 Broadway version, but that's all. Modifying the score is an interesting effort but inferior to the original. The singing voices of the actors in this new Broadway cast probably appeal to the less-well trained ear of to-day's young adults, but to someone a bit older than that these, their voices sound ill trained, screechy and oblivious of the original score and lyrics. Cole Porter's elegant wit blows completly by them.
I give it 3 stars for technology, but suggest you stick with the original for pure enjoyment. |
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 The Best Version out there!
Submitted on: 2005-06-19 |
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| I have to say this totally changed my views on Kiss Me Kate. After seeing the movie I thought it was good, but at times to operatic and it made my ears ring too much. After buying the broadway cast CD I pretty much put this musical in the catorgory of musicals I just didn't like that much. I got the new cast album as a gift and was hesitant to listen to it. I put it on in the background and was so suprized! Finally instead of the normal sing ever song the same operatic way these actors were feeling there music! I mean I can see why some would perfer the ballad operatic tones in "I hate Men" and "always true to you" because that's how they were always done, but I loved the attitude that this cast displayed by her snariling angry version of I hate men and the none operatic "Always True to You". There were countless other songs I enjoyed so much more beacause they didn't cause you to go death from having the same operatic ring to them. This version of Kiss Me Kate is the best ever! |
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 zesty new revival of the Cole Porter classic
Submitted on: 2004-08-15 |
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| The 1999 Broadway revival of KISS ME KATE was a big success, running nearly 3 years and spawning a national tour as well as a London production (which was taped for DVD release). The cast album is a real delight. Brian Stokes Mitchell (KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, MAN OF LA MANCHA) is a grand Fred Graham, and Marin Mazzie is a thrilling Lilli Vanessi, the feuding ex-spouses starring in a musical version of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew". Michael Berresse and Amy Spanger add a playful sexiness to their performamces as Bill Calhoun and Lois Lane, with Adriane Lenox as a perfectly-belted Hattie. The orchestrations by Don Sebesky are bright and full of bounce; I especially love the bluesy arrangement of "So in Love". This cast album is highly-recommended if you already own the OBC with Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison and Lisa Kirk. |
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