Theatregoers can brush up their Cole Porter Jan. 25, when DRG Records releases the cast album of the hit Broadway revival, Kiss Me, Kate,
Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie star in the current revival at the Martin Beck Theatre, and sing on the disc with the company. The Michael Blakemore-directed revival has new orchestrations by Don Sebesky and dance arrangements by David Chase.
The disc includes hits of the 1948 score, with classics such as "Another Op'nin', Another Show," "Too Darn Hot," "So In Love," "Why Can't You Behave?," "Always True To You in My Fashion," "Wunderbar," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," plus a reworked "I Sing of Love," heard in the revival as "Cantiamo D'Amore." The disc does not include the revival's one interpolation, "From This Moment On," sung by Ron Holgate and Marin Mazzie, which means the original (if newly musical-arranged) score is reflected on the disc. Unlike the original cast album and show, the overture of the revival is weaved into "Another Op'nin'."
The new cast recording is produced by Hugh Fordin and co-produced by Paul Gemignani and Don Sebesky.
It was not immediately clear if this revised version of Kate (with changes made by an uncredited John Guare) will be offered to stock and amateur companies in the future, but Lois Reader Elias, of the estate of librettists Sam and Bella Spewack, told Playbill On-Line that the classic version will continue to be part of the literature of theatres around the world.