Cole Porter sets this classic musical during the production of a musical version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Opera North’s scintillating show playfully uses the contrast between off and on-stage action with a clever combination of the two that benefits from very quick and slick transitions. Throughout the singing voices are to die for from an extremely talented cast who fly through the quite lengthy songs – their style reflecting the period setting – and the accompanying orchestra were fabulous.
Colin Richmond’s set design is very authentic of its era as well as being functional, revealing the show-within-a-show very well. The ensemble performance was very well timed and the mood that they created was very suave. The leads had great conviction and they had spectacular vocal range against the flawless music. Tiffany Graves’ Bianca stood out as a little more modern and had an outstanding vocal ability.
Joseph Shovelton and John Savournin (pictured) as the gangsters were very funny and they played to the audience well. And if I were to take one thing away with me from the show it would be how the truth can come back to haunt you so honesty is key. Tonight was a brilliant start to the Opera North season; now we can look forward to Giles Havergal’s take on Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Tom Cairns’s staging of Janacek’s Jenufa.
Reviewed on: 24 September, Leeds Grand Theatre, see https://leeds.operanorthtickets.co.uk/Online/KissMeKate for further dates.