'Kate' 's New Stars
By
Ken Mandelbaum
Broadway.com
The new leads in the Tony-winning, hit revival of Kiss Me, Kate don’t have perfect performances to live up to. While Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie looked great, sang superbly, performed with zest and skill, and had an infectiously good time on stage, they weren’t absolutely ideal for the roles of Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi. Mitchell wasn’t fully believable as the hammy thespian used to touring to empty houses as Peer Gynt and Cyrano; his fundamental earnestness was somewhat at odds with the extravagant silliness built into the role. Mazzie was closer to the mark, but lacked something in hauteur and the grand manner.
If you saw Burke Moses create the role of Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, you know that his strong suit is silliness, and that he’s about as thick a slice of ham as you will find these days. His Fred is an overripe egoist, a broadly drawn buffoon, closer than Mitchell to what the authors envisioned. Likewise, Moses’ hefty singing voice is more that of classic Broadway baritones, with traces of the Freds of Howard Keel and Robert Goulet. Moses swallows a line here and there, and may lack some of Mitchell’s class and star appeal. And Moses’ performance is daringly over-the-top; some may find it too cartoonish, too close to Gaston. But I found it refreshingly extravagant and quite enjoyable.
Carolee Carmello projects so much warmth and friendliness that one might think her unable to pull off Lilli, but she does, providing a delightful performance. Looking better than ever, she’s authoritative in the broad comedy of “I Hate Men,” and, singing almost all of the music in that wonderfully rangy belt, supplies some exciting tones in “So in Love.” Above all, it’s a pleasure to see the confidence with which she carries off a traditional musical comedy part. (Note that in The Scarlet Pimpernel Carmello followed Rachel York, who is now playing Lilli in the Kate national tour.)
Moving from one Kathleen Marshall show (Seussical) to another, Janine LaManna is a perky, very appealing Lois, brightly sung and danced. The most suitable of the original quartet of leads was Michael Berresse, and he remains as Bill Calhoun, while about to be seen in Steven Spielberg’s new film A.I. Berresse continues to be just right as Bill, still scaling the heights in “Bianca” with considerable elan.
Original gangster Michael Mulheren was joined some time back by Michael McCormick, and they continue to get as big a reaction as when the production opened. Stanley Wayne Mathis still fronts “Too Darn Hot” expertly. Other welcome newcomers include Christopher Coucill (Harrison Howell), Herb Foster (Baptista), Michael Gruber (Hortensio), and (as Hattie) Mamie Duncan-Gibbs (like Berresse, LaManna, and LaManna’s predecessor as Lois, Amy Spanger, a veteran of the Chicago revival).
If Michael
Blakemore’s production has its shortcomings, it satisfies; this Kate
actually seemed a bit more charming now than it did 20 months ago, and is in fine
shape as it heads into its third year.