By Michael Buckley Next month's "Kiss Me, Kate" stars Brent Barrett and Rachel York. Barrett, who played Fred Graham for the entire London run ("October 30 [2001] to August 24 [2002]"), considers it "one of the best male musical-comedy roles that's ever been written. You have to do everything. It's such a workout — physically, vocally, mentally — but so much fun! And when you're done [with a performance], it's totally rewarding. With some shows, like West Side Story, you work your butt off for the whole night as Tony, and Anita steals the show."
Barrett's three leading ladies during the London engagement were Marin Mazzie (who originated Lilli in the Broadway revival, opposite Brian Stokes Mitchell), Carolee Carmello (who also succeeded Mazzie on Broadway), and Rachel York, "who did it for the last two months [after having co-starred with Rex Smith in the U.S. tour]. They filmed during the last week. They'd been talking about possibly filming it since we opened. When the closing notice went up, everyone scrambled." The secondary leads are Nancy Anderson (also Lois in the U.S. tour) and Michael Berresse (re-creating his Broadway role as Bill). The "Great Performances" preserves the great dance sequence in "Bianca," in which Berresse does a fantastic gymnastic climb to reach Lois's dressing room.
"They filmed five live shows, and came in on two afternoons for close-up work. They wanted to get a different feeling for backstage and onstage [scenes]. It's not a foolproof show. Anybody can't do it and be successful. What [director] Michael Blakemore, [choreographer] Kathleen Marshall, and [music director] Paul Gemignani did made it as successful as it was."
Recalls Barrett, "I had auditioned for Broadway — as everyone else did." Between the Broadway and London productions, Michael Blakemore saw Barrett as Frank Butler, opposite Reba McEntire, in Annie Get Your Gun. Oddly enough, notes Barrett, there are certain similarities between the characters of Butler and Graham, "especially their egos." The offer to play Graham on the West End came just as Barrett was returning to the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago. What's his favorite number in Kate? "I loved doing 'Where Is the Life...' There were only a few nights I went up [forgetting a lyric]. That usually happened in 'I've Come to Wive It Wealthily,' because every verse is structured differently."
19 Jan 2003
As we speak, Brent Barrett has not seen a finished tape of "Kiss Me, Kate." He expresses some concern that "the style of performance [used onstage] is so over the top, and you don't know how that's going to transfer to the small screen. But I think it's going to look okay. I've seen some clips, and I don't think I'm going to embarrass myself."
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END QUIZ: In what short-lived Broadway musical did the original Kiss Me, Kate leads, Alfred Drake and Patricia Morison, appear together ten years earlier: a) My One True Love; b) The Two Bouquets; c) Three Wishes for Mimi? (Answer: Next column, Feb. 16.)
The Dec. 22 question was: Who played Dana Carvey's girlfriend in the 1982 TV sitcom, "One of the Boys," which starred Mickey Rooney and featured Nathan Lane as Carvey's college roommate: a) Meg Ryan; b) Cheryl Ladd; c) Michelle Pfeiffer? The answer is A (whose name, for anagram fans, spells Germany).
—Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.com and The Sondheim Review.
