Polite Dissent

The Polite Wife and I were at the Peoria Civic Center tonight with tickets to the musical The Full Monty. Unlike the original movie, this version is set in Buffalo, NY. That pretty much sums up the musical. It was a loud brash Americanization of the original movie. All of the original subtlety (not that there was much) was gone. The songs were fair, with rather blatant lyrics. It was a fun spectacle, but not much of a musical.

The last time we were there it was a much better musical. One of my favorites, in fact.

What do you get when you combine Shakespeare, Cole Porter, and feuding ex-spouses? One of the best of the classic musicals: Kiss Me Kate. Kiss Me Kate was initially a Broadway musical but in 1953 wit as made into a movie. It’s based on The Taming of the Shrew, which seems to be one of Shakespeare’s more adapted plays (remember The Taming of the Shrew episode of Moonlighting? Or the more recent movie 10 Things I Hate About You?)

Fred Graham is a former A-list stage actor and he is starring as leading man Petruchio in a stage performance of The Taming of the Shrew. His ex-wife, with whom is barely on speaking terms, is playing the female lead Katherine. Meanwhile Graham’s current flame Lois Lane (yep, that’s her name) is playing Katherine’s younger sister Bianca, and Lane’s real significant other is in the play as well. It also turns out that Lane’s boyfriend lost a bundle at the poker table to the Mob and signed Graham’s name to the IOU. The Mob sends two thugs to collect and Graham manages to con them into preventing Lilli from leaving after she threatens to quit. These backstage antics set up the show, and the group’s performance of The Taming of the Shrew is the clever play within a play.

There are some memorable songs including Too Darn Hot, I Hate Men and I’ve Come to Wive it Wealthily in Padua. The best song by far is Brush Up Your Shakespeare, which manages close to a hundred bawdy Shakespeare puns in just over three minutes.

The movie is good. It stars Howard Keel as Fred Graham and Kathryn Grayson as Lilli Vanessi. A young Keenan Wynn plays one of the mobsters and famed choreographer Bob Fosse plays one of Bianca’s fiancées. Some of the music was altered for the movie, toning down some of the innuendo. For that reason, seeing it on stage is superior (though you lose the quality of the movie’s performers.) Watch the musical if you can, but if it’s not available, definitely watch the movie.