Center to blow ‘Kate’ a kiss

Jennifer K Mahal

The first time Rachel York played Lili Vanessi in “Kiss Me, Kate” she

was 17 and unprepared. York had been cast in the chorus of a dinner

theater production, her first professional job, until the show’s lead

actress got laryngitis.

“There was no understudy,” said York. “I had to learn the role in two

days, shaking like leaf, scared to death.”

This time around the actress, who will come to Orange County Tuesday

with the “Kiss Me, Kate” national revival tour, rehearsed for three weeks

to get Vanessi just right.

“It took all that time,” said York, who won acclaim for playing

Marguerite St. Just in “The Scarlet Pimpernel” on Broadway. “It kind of

amazed me that I was able to do it all at 17 in two days.”

“Kiss Me, Kate,” with a score by Cole Porter and book by Sam and Bella

Spewack, tells an ambitious tale -- that of a coupleon the outs (York’s

Vanessi and Fred Graham, played by Rex Smith) who are putting together a

musical based on William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” It’s a

musical with a musical within it, with actors who play actors playing a

role. “The great thing about Lili is that I’m an actress and Lili’s an

actress,” York said. “We’ve both had our share of tumultuous

relationships. We have a lot in common.”

Part of what makes Lili so interesting to play is the chance to also

play her alter ego, Shakespeare’s Kate.

“Katherine is just a feminist before her time,” York said. “She didn’t

let anyone tell her what to say or do, and because of that, she’s labeled

as a shrew and uncontrollable and not worthy.”

Though a musical with numbers such as “Too Darn Hot,” “Another Op’nin,

Another Show” and “Brush Up on Your Shakespeare” might seem like a

shoo-in for plenty of performances, “Kiss Me, Kate” stayed out of the

Broadway and touring limelight until director Michael Blakemore helped

bring it back in 2000.

“It’s one of those things people have not really wanted to take out of

the closet,” said Kevin Neil McCready, who plays Bill Calhoun. “It’s one

of those gems, one of those old fashioned, really great musicals.

Everyone was caught by surprise.”

Both McCready, who was in the Broadway production that closed in

December, and York credit Blakemore for shaking the cobwebs off of the

production,” which won a 2000 Tony Award for best revival (a historical

note, in 1948 “Kiss Me, Kate” was the first musical every to win a Tony

for best musical).

“One thing that’s great about Michael Blakemore is that he’s

aShakespearean actor and a farcical comedy director,” York said. The

production “is farce and Shakespeare and a musical, and he just gets it.

He knows how to make it work.”

Among the differences Blakemore made was to change a character from a

Texas oilman to a politically-motivated general and to soften some of the

more objectionable moments.

“He’s rounded the sharpened edges a little bit,” said McCready, who

grew up in Anaheim.

Especially when it comes to the battle between “Taming’s” Kate and

Petruchio, also known as Vanessi and Graham. A little bit of changed

staging at the end “gives women the upper hand through the whole thing,”

McCready said.

York said that she thinks the tweak at the end creates a space where

the leading characters are both tamed of their egos.

“Kate does not lose her power at all, and at the end she actually

becomes wiser,” she said.

FYI

* What: “Kiss Me, Kate”

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* When: Tuesday through March 24. Performances will be 8 p.m. Tuesday

through Thursday, 2 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

* Cost: $27.50-$62.50

* Call: (714) 740-7878