'Kiss Me, Kate' this Weekend in Nashua

On Dec. 5, 6 and 7, StageCoach Productions will present Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, perhaps the greatest valentine to live theatre that’s ever been written.

By transporting the audience behind the scenes during the opening night of a new show, the storyline of Kiss Me, Kate invites the audience into a meta-theatrical realm that reveals the electric energy of the theatre from all angles. When stage director Fred Graham brings his passion project (a musical adaptation of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew) to life, he has no idea how much drama he will stir up both onstage and off. Fred’s ex-wife Lilli Vanessi, who has recently fallen out of Hollywood’s good graces, stars opposite him in The Shrew (the show-within-the-show) and infuses her Shakespearean character with more than enough personal fire. As tensions between Fred and Lilli rise, the opening night performance of The Shrew takes a zany turn that keeps the entire cast on their toes. Add to the madness a pair of young up and comers (Lois Lane and Bill Calhoun) trying to work out their relationship troubles, a stage manager at his wit’s end, and a team of married, Shakespeare-loving gangsters, and you’ve got a musical comedy as unpredictable and hilarious as it is enlivening and romantic.

Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate ran for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway and in 1949, it won the first Tony Award that was presented for Best Musical. Don’t miss your chance to see this magical show. Performances are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5, and 6, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7, at 2 p.m. at the Janice B. Streeter Theater, 14 Court St. in Nashua. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for seniors and military, and $12 for children 12.

Tickets can be purchased online through Ticketleap or by visiting stagecoachproductions.org, at the box office 30 minutes before performance, or by calling 603-320-3780.

Submitted text. Courtesy photo.