Big kiss planted on Littlehampton players’ latest show

Now Littlehampton audiences have the chance to see how well this popular musical, premièred on Broadway in December, 1948, has stood the test of time.

Littlehampton Musical Comedy Society is bringing the show to the Windmill Entertainment Centre for four performances starting tomorrow (Wednesday, August 7). And for director/choreographer Carolyn Bennett, it’s familiar territory, in which there will be a familiar face in the cast.

For when Carolyn also directed the musical 14 years ago, for the now, sadly, defunct Sussex Musical Productions, in Worthing, Julie Waite played Kate/Lilli, and will be in the same roles for the LMCS staging. Since then, Carolyn has been director of two other LMCS musicals, Annie and Guys and Dolls, and taken charge of four pantomimes for the company. “It’s been a challenge,” she admitted, of Kiss Me, Kate, “but rehearsals have been going fine despite the inevitable problems of people being away at this time of year. They’re all having a great time and we are just about ready now to take it to the stage.”

This play-within-a-play revolves around a performance of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, by a group of actors in 1940s’ America.

Hence, most of the cast have two roles, their American self and the Shakespearian character they are portraying. Tim Kimber takes the male lead opposite Julie, as Fred and Petruchio, just a few months after he also worked with Carolyn in Littlehampton Players’ Operatic Society’s production of Oliver! “Tim and Julie are both very experienced and reliable. They have made life easier for me,” said Carolyn.

Completing the cast are Becky Edmonds, as Lois Lane/Shakespeare’s Bianca, Ben Michael, as Bill Calhoun/Lucentio and John Spicer, as Harry/Baptista, while Mark Barnes, as General Harrison Howell, and Mark Roberts and Bruce Stewart, as gangsters, have a less complicated time with just one character to play.

This was the first musical for which Porter wrote both the words and the music, and his creativity, interwoven with the Shakespearian strands, has brought success wherever and whenever it has been staged.

Anyone familiar with the show will know numbers such as Too Darn Hot, Another Openin’, Another Show, Wunderbar and Brush up Your Shakespeare, while From This Moment On has been added into the mix, too. Daniel Paine is the musical director and Charlotte Reader assistant choreographer.

Tickets, price £13 for adults and £12 for concessions, are available by calling 01903 730775 and there is also a special offer for the opening night of two tickets for £20. Performances are at 7.30pm.