Another good one from Queanbeyan Players. Cole Porter's clever reworking of Shakespeare's Taming Of The Shrew is a mixture of salient slabs of the original play and a new story of gangsters and intrigue. Just a little tired now but still a classic of the older style musical genre.
Added to the story are a selection of fine songs - Why Can't You Behave, So In Love, Too Darn Hot, Always True To You In My Fashion and the catchy Brush Up Your Shakespeare to name just a few.
Mary O'Brien in the dual lead roles of Lilli and Kate was excellent. A beautiful singing voice combined with capable acting abilities resulted in a fine performance indeed.
Twenty year old Trent Morris, also in dual roles - Fred and Petruchio - displayed a fine bass/baritone voice. Just a little emotionally young for the role, but still convincing, this fine young actor and singer is definitely someone to watch out for in the future.
Minor principals Judith Satrapa and Rodney Beaver gave strong support in their dual roles as Lois/Bianca and Bill/Lucentio respectively, whilst Phil Perman and Bill Dwyer delivered amusing cameo appearances as the two gangsters, receiving encores in the middle of the show!
Queanbeyan Players stalwart, Bill Douglas showed his versatility as a maturing actor in his dual role of Harry/Baptista (Kate's father) - a fine performance.
This production displayed excellent and appropriate direction by Marie Jensen whilst the orchestra, under the direction of John Agnew was very pleasingly in tune and balanced. The chorus provided great support and were enthusiastic and well disciplined. Costumes, sets and lighting were also of a good standard.
Choreography by Katie Keys was highly effective, culminating in a wonderful dance sequence in Too Darn Hot, which was one of the highlights of the show.
Originally published in Muse Magazine (Canberra), June 1996
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