Photo Flash: First Look at KISS ME, KATE on the West End!

Trevor Nunn directs the Old Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Kiss Me, Kate, with Music and lyrics by Cole Porter and Book by Sam and Bella Spewack, which is scheduled for London performances from 1 December followed by a Chichester premiere on 27 June 2012. Choreography is provided by Stephen Mear for a cast that includes Alex Bourne, David Burt, Adam Garcia, Clive Rowe and Hannah Waddingham. Get a first look at the cast onstage in the photos below!

Kiss Me, Kate is an exuberant show-within-a-show, bringing together the worlds of gun-toting gangsters, sparring actors and Shakespeare’s original characters from The Taming of the Shrew. Cole Porter’s dazzling score is shot through with wit, charm and Broadway energy; it includes Too Darn Hot, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, Another Op’nin’, Another Show, So In Love Am I and Always True To You (In My Fashion).

This co-production of Kiss Me, Kate reunites The Old Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre to celebrate the historic partnership initiated by Laurence Olivier between the two theatres in this, Chichester’s 50th anniversary year.

Trevor Nunn has been Artistic Director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Theatre. He has directed some of the most critically acclaimed and popular musical and Shakespearean productions in recent decades. His musical credits include Porgy and Bess, My Fair Lady, Anything Goes, The Woman in White, Les Misérables, Starlight Express and Cats. Other theatre credits include Flare Path, Rock ‘n’ Roll, King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth. He has directed Richard II and Inherit the Wind for The Old Vic and his Chichester credits are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which transferred to the West End in 2011, and Cyrano de Bergerac.

The London performances are slated now through 2 Mar 2013, with opening night on the 1st of December. Performances are Mon–Sat 7.30pm; Wed & Sat 2.30pm, with no matinee performance on Wed 21 Nov, no evening performances on Mon 24 December or Mon 31 December, and no performances on Tue 25 December or Tue 1 January. There are extra matinees at 2.30pm on Mon 24 December, Fri 28 December, Sun 30 December & Mon 31 December.

Tickets range from £11 to £58 with concessions available from www.oldvictheatre.com.

Photo Credit: Roy Tan