Kiss Me Kate review: Dunbar? He's Wunderbar in this sexy, sassy revival, writes PATRICK MARMION By Patrick Marmion Published: 17:34 EDT, 18 June 2024 | Updated: 20:20 EDT, 18 June 2024 e-mail 1 View comments Forget the antique sexual politics. The only real problem with the Cole Porter musical Kiss Me Kate could be that it's just too darned packed. Opening in London last night, Bartlett Sher's lip-smacking revival, starring Line Of Duty 's unlikely heartthrob Adrian Dunbar and Broadway diva Stephanie J Block, is a candy store of great songs, hot dancing, smart gags and glorious characters.
The show centres on a 1940s production of Shakespeare's Italian comedy, The Taming Of The Shrew, which goes wrong when sex-war on stage spreads backstage, consuming the leading man Fred Graham (Dunbar) and his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi (Block). On the brink of going off the rails, the performance is saved by a couple of starstruck gangsters who insist the show must go on – even if it's at gunpoint. Porter's music and lyrics are tumultuously rendered in the big company dance numbers Another Op'nin, Another Show, and the smouldering Too Darn Hot.
Opening in London last night, Bartlett Sher's lip-smacking revival, starring Line Of Duty's unlikely heartthrob Adrian Dunbar (right) and Broadway diva Stephanie J Block (left), is a candy store of great songs, hot dancing, smart gags and glorious characters The show centres on a 1940s production of Shakespeare's Italian comedy, The Taming Of The Shrew.