Kiss Me, Kate (1999 Broadway Revival Cast)

This terrific new recording of Cole Porter\'s greatest show grabs you from the beginning: shimmering strings lead straight into \"Another Op\'nin\', Another Show\" before the orchestra takes over. Then it\'s on to many of Porter\'s best-loved melodies and wittiest lyrics, including \"Wunderbar,\" \"So in Love,\" \"Always True to You (In My Fashion),\" and \"Why Can\'t You Behave?\" Art imitates life in this story of a troupe\'s performance of Shakespeare\'s The Taming of the Shrew, as the stars quarrel as much offstage as they do onstage, and Porter\'s score reflects this with both contemporary \'40s songs (\"Too Darn Hot\") and Bard-inspired stage songs (\"I\'ve Come to Wive It Wealthily in Padua\"). Similarly, Don Sebesky\'s marvelous new orchestrations alternate a jazzy band with Elizabethan-period drums and recorders. Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie (both alums of Ragtime) are in glorious voice as the feuding stars, while Amy Spanger and Michael Berresse shine as the secondary couple. Surprisingly, when this production debuted on Broadway in the fall of 1999, it was the show\'s first-ever major revival. The original 1948 cast recording is still great listening, but this is a Kiss Me, Kate for the new century. --David Horiuchi (Amazon)