Kiss Me, Kate

Kiss Me, Kate
Music	Cole Porter
Lyrics	Cole Porter
Book	Bella and Samuel Spewack
Basis	The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Productions	1948 Broadway 1951 West End 1999 Broadway revival 2001 West End revival 2019 Broadway revival
Awards	1949 Tony Award for Best Musical 1949 Tony Award for Composer and Lyricist 1949 Tony Award for Best Author 1999 Tony Award for Best Revival

Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.

Kiss Me, Kate was Porter's response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals; it was the first show he wrote in which the music and lyrics were firmly connected to the script. The musical premiered in 1948 and proved to be Porter's only show to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway.^[1][2] In 1949, it won the first Tony Award for Best Musical.