Kiss Me Kate, The Taming of the Shrew and Ten Things I Hate

The 1953 film of the musical ‘Kiss Me Kate’ is successful in many aspects as an appropriation of the Shakespearian play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. These include: the transmission of ‘Kiss Me Kate’ from the live Broadway musical to the film version; and the clear portrayal of the play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ onstage, and the mirrored story backstage. Other successful features are: the contribution of song lyrics which add clarity to the plot; and the fact that the score can still be enjoyed today since the mood and lyrics of each songs are varied.

Unfortunately, some aspects of the film do not contribute positively to its success. For example: the obvious fact that the film is a 1950’s piece results in the audience being slightly distracted by the abundance of post-war American values and ideas and renders it less attractive to current viewers. Another negative feature are the frequent dancing scenes which are entertaining, but in which it is not always clear why

Before the film version, ‘Kiss Me Kate’ was an incredibly successful live musical-performed on Broadway and around the world. It is still performed as a live musical today. Thus the smooth transmission from live performance to film in 1953 enabled the film version to retain the loyalty of the live musical’s fans whilst gaining more viewers with the distribution of the video. The greatest achievement in the adaptation is that virtually all the live musical’s songs are retained, with the addition of one song from another play, ‘Out of This World’. In fact, this addition proved so successful that the song was included in all subsequent productions of the live show. Hence, the film version’s success as a product confirms its success as an appropriation of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ which is enjoyed and studied by thousands of people.

Not only does their on-stage performance come backstage, but the characters utilise their backstage issues to add emphasis and meaning to their onstage lines. When Lilli discovers that flowers she received from Fred before the performance were actually meant for Lois, she becomes enraged-onstage. In Act 2, scene 1, Petruchio encounters Kate. Although she is meant to be angry, Lilli uses her own bursting anger towards Fred to enable Katherine to lose all control onstage, adding more ferocity to the rehearsed violence. She violently slaps and elbows Petruchio, all the while remaining using her Shakespearian dialogue. Fred eventually decides that he has had enough, and, to the delight of the audience, flips her over and spanks her bottom centre stage while the curtains are being drawn. The naive audience members simply see Petruchio punishing Katherine, however it is also Fred teaching Lilli a lesson for her feisty attack on him.

Backstage Fred is arrogant, cocky and egotistical, and is obviously still in love with Lilli Vanessi-similar to Petruchio. The backstage drama unfolds as Fred tries (more subtly than Petruchio) to win Lilli’s love. There are moments when they seem truly in love, such as whilst reminiscing about past musicals, and also moments when Lilli becomes enraged at Fred. Entire backstage scenes can be recognised from ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, such as the scene when Fred advises Lilli not to eat before going onstage, to prevent indigestion. He does this under the pr

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