I conclude my tour through Kiss Me, Kate on screen with the best–though most truncated–version to be found. A 1958 telecast, presented by Hallmark and available thanks to the folks at Video Artists International, who have made a habit of preserving such delicacies. This adaptation runs only 78 minutes (a full hour shorter than the 2003 London taping), but you hardly notice anything is missing. Of course, a lot is missing: “Too Darn Hot”, “Were Thine that Special Face”, “Bianca”, and while a brief dance portion is all the remains of “Sing of Love”, most of the other dancing has been cut. Elsewhere dialogue is trimmed throughout (especially in the Shrew scenes), and if that means the transition from scene to song is sometimes graceless, much of the humor and all of the plot is retained and the added efficiency is welcome (especially in the Shrew scenes). But the greatest asset of this production is the presence of the original stars of the Broadway production. As Fred/Petruchio and Lilli/Kate, Alfred Drake and Patricia Morrison are peerless. Their chemistry is tangible with as much of their performance communicated through sly looks and innuendo as text or song and their obvious fondness for the material and each other is infectious. Though the staging of “Wunderbar” lacks the movie version‘s graceful choreography or the precisely crafted jokes found in the revival, Morrison and Drake’s seemingly effortless rapport make it the most genuinely engaging of the three.
