‘Kiss Me, Kate,’ Opera North, London Coliseum until June 30^th, 2018 *****

‘Kiss Me, Kate,’ Cole Porter’s classic 1948 Broadway hit, returns to London for a limited run in this awesome production from Opera North. A play-within-a-play, the story centres around fiery leading-lady Lilli Vanessi (Stephanie Corley), reunited with her old flame Fred Graham (Quirijn De Lang) in a musical reworking of ‘The Taming of The Shrew’. Backstage tensions soon spill over into Shakespeare’s onstage battle-of-the-sexes in a show packed with high-energy dance, sultry torch songs, Vaudeville slapstick and plenty of pizazz, the cast brilliantly backed by a 50-piece orchestra in a dazzling revival that will leave you breathless. In the words of one of the show’s most famous numbers, ‘it’s too darn hot’!