Kiss Me Kate - Barbican / Cinema Release

Thank you, nothing against him at all, I just adore the score and I'm wary of his 'So in Love' being what I would hope for!

is anybody going tonight?

This was a mixed bag for me.

Stephanie J Block sings and acts Lili brilliantly, and her version of So in Love was worth the price of admission alone. She brings a real sense of fire to Lili and Kate, while also imbuing her with a good amount of vulnerability- the moment where she realises Fred really is in love with her was really well played.

Charlie Stemp is Charlie Stemp, and that is no bad thing - he dances a treat, is genuinely funny and sings like a dream. His Bill is an idealistic dreamer, totally in love with his Bianca. He gets a few added dance moments in Too Darn Hot, and with Jack Butterworth, dances up a cracking start to act two.

Georgina Onuorah’s Lois is the perfect match for Stemp’s Bill - she’s flirty, fun and is an absolute powerhouse vocalist. Her Why Can’t You Behave was tender, while her Always True to You is a proper showstopper, that showed that not only can she sing like mad, she’s really, really funny too, and her work with the three suitors (Carl Au and Jordan Crouch) in Tom, Dick and Harry was great!

Nigel Lindsay and Hammed Animashaun as the two gangsters are a great double act, bouncing off each other and other members of the cast with ease. Their Brush Up Your Shakespeare was a highlight of act two, and I couldn’t help but grin through it.

And then there’s Adrian Dunbar as Fred. His acting is good, and I actually think he’d make a good Petruchio, if his scenes as the character in this are anything to go by. But the singing. He’s not leading man material for a musical, and up against a cast with voices like this, it’s glaringly clear he’s not up to it, sadly. I really wanted to like him, but I struggled to move past the voice - hopefully by opening night he’ll have gotten better.

Overall, it’s a fun night out with some stellar performances and it’s a joy to have SJB here giving it her all.

Sadly not, Mr B!

I think what disappointed me most was that it should, in theory, be great - SJB is great, Georgina is great, Charlie is great, the score is great, and yet, it’s missing a solid leading man, and better direction.

I remember a thread about reinterpreting older works on the board; a production like this could've been great for a retake on this material.

I'll write something properly in the morning, but this is a few tweaks from 5 stars for me.

Phenomenal design, a KNOCK OUT cast (I liked Adrian but he was nervous as heck and needs a few previews to be totally comfortable with it) - SJB is absolutely superb , Charlie great, Georgina great (and I've never thought that of her in anything I've seen her in), Hammed and Nigel a SUPERB brush up your shakespeare.

This is great.
It's classy as HELL, it's probably the best designed show I've seen in ages.

I loved it 😂

Oh, and don't worry about Too Darn Hot after the One Show.

It's a showstopper.

How is Georginas dancing? It's never something I've associated with her

Glad to hear some positives here - I'm in on Saturday and was worried!

Thanks for the reviews. Visiting next week. Can't wait. Do we know if SJB is playing all perfomances? Is she on at wednesday, after opening night?

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Also why are they even staging this dated old show? In this moment as well. It’s so misogynistic. [/quote]


This goes double for the forthcoming Carousel concert although presumably they'll be making lots of dialogue cuts.