Kiss Me Kate – White Christmas – The Gruffalo – Doctor Who – Royal Institution Christmas Lectures – Arena – 25 Dec 2009

Merry Christmas! We kick off with another musical and another musical which I have performed in on stage. It’s Kiss Me Kate. It’s the musical based on Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew It opens with Howard Keel, as Fred Graham, welcoming Cole Porter to his apartment to discuss his new musical. Not actually the real Cole Porter, he’s played by Ron Randell. Fred wants his ex-wife Lilli to play opposite him in the show as Katherine. She’s played by Kathryn Grayson, and her antipathy towards Fred rather mirrors their characters in the show. It gets more awkward when there’s another ring on the bell – it’s Lois Lane, another actress and singer, who Fred wants to play Katherine’s younger sister Bianca. She’s Lois Lane (not that one) and played by Ann Miller, hotfoot from being on stage, hence the costume. And even better she brings her own band, and performs the song Too Darn Hot. This is a great show, and a very good film version, which plenty of great songs, like We Open in Venice, which…