George Dvorsky, who recently starred in the North Shore's production of A Christmas Carol, will head the cast as Fred Graham. Another Christmas Carol regular, David Coffee, will also be featured in Kiss Me, Kate, which will play the Massachusetts theatre April 27-May 16. Additional casting is expected shortly. George Dvorsky was seen in the Broadway casts of The Scarlet Pimpernel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Passion and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and has appeared in the North Shore Music Theatre's production of A Christmas Carol for over a decade. David Coffee has starred in the North Shore's productions of West Side Story, The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Fiddler on the Roof. He has played Scrooge for the past 12 years in their production of A Christmas Carol.

Loosely based on Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, Kiss Me, Kate originally opened at Broadway's New Century Theatre on Dec. 30, 1948. Featuring a score by Cole Porter and a book by Samuel and Bella Spewack, Kate ran 1,077 performances. The original cast included Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. The classic Porter score includes such tunes as "Another Op'nin', Another Show," "Too Darn Hot," "Wunderbar," "So in Love," "Always True to You in My Fashion," "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," "Why Can't You Behave?,""We Open in Venice," "Tom, Dick or Harry," "I Hate Men" and "Where Is the Life that Late I Led?" The recent Tony-winning revival of the musical played 881 performances at the Martin Beck Theatre, Nov. 1999-Dec. 2001; Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell co-starred.

Kiss Me, Kate will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8 PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 PM. Tickets for the production are now available by calling the theatre's box office at (978) 232 7200 or by going on-line to www.nsmt.org. The North Shore Music Theatre is located in Beverly, MA at 62 Dunham Road.