Kiss Me, Kate

Act One

In 1948, a theater company are preparing for the opening night of a new musical based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew at the Ford Theatre in Baltimore (“Another Op’nin’, Another Show”). They are led by impresario Fred Graham who is not only directing and producing the show, but also starring as the romantic lead Petruchio. Controversially he has hired his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi to perform opposite him as the ‘shrew’, Katherine. Both claim to have moved on--Fred is pursuing the young actress Lois Lane, who is playing Katherine’s sister Bianca, and Lilli is recently engaged to war veteran General Harrison Howell. Meanwhile Lois’s other love interest Bill Calhoun, who has the part of Lucentio, has gotten into trouble while gambling with Baltimore gangsters, and has signed an IOU for $10,000, using Fred’s name instead of his own (“Why Can’t You Behave”).

Despite Lilli and Fred’s constant bickering, as they reminisce together in their dressing room, it becomes clear that