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By Ronen Zilberman, Star-Bulletin
Cathy Foy as Lilli playing Kate, and Steve Wagenseller
as Fred playing Petruchio, in HPU's production.

‘Kate’ reaches
a high rare in
local theater

Kiss Me Kate: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 10; Hawaii Pacific University in Kaneohe. $14 general admission; $10 senior citizens, students and military. Call 254-0853

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By John Berger
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Playwrights Samuel and Bella Spewack barely resolve one of the three or four stories that percolate through "Kiss Me, Kate" but director Joyce Maltby and a remarkable cast do a fine job in staging the vintage Broadway musical in the compact little theater at Hawaii Pacific University.

For Maltby, who also directs the HPU theater program, "Kate" raises expectations for future HPU shows. For the show's leads, Cathy Foy (Lilli Vanessi/Kate) and Steve Wagenseller (Fred Graham/Petruchio), "Kate" is the vehicle for career-best performances to date.

It has been years since Wagenseller has done anything comparable to his work here. He deftly balances comedy and romance as Graham. He then plays Graham doing Shakespeare with equal skill, and adds strong vocal performances in both contexts.

Foy plays the actress/diva and Shakespearean shrew with a range and brilliance rarely seen in local musical theater.

Choreographer Brad Powell and HPU regular Jim Tharp also play well in making "Kate" a must-see for fans of Broadway musicals. Powell and Tharp play stereotypical gangsters who figure in one of the dangling subplots. The two not only hit big as comic actors but bring down the house as song-and-dance men with "Brush Up In Your Shakespeare."

The song underscores that "Kate" is about what happens when a musical version of "The Taming of the Shrew" is complicated by the personal relationship between the producer and male lead, Fred Graham, and his leading lady, Lilli Vanessi, who is also his ex-wife. Although Lilli has a wealthy suitor (David Starr) she still cares for Fred. When Lilli discovers that flowers she received from Fred were intended for another actress, her fury results in a physical "battle of the sexes" as she and Fred play Kate and Petruchio "on stage."

The gangsters come in because young actor Bill Calhoun (Noah Johnson) signed "Fred Graham" on the I.O.U. for a $10,000 gambling debt. When Lilli says she's quitting the show, Fred convinces the hoods that keeping her in the show is in their best interest.

HPU student Ryan Lympus, a hit in HPU's production of "Tintypes" last season, has a powerhouse number in "Too Darn Hot." It is one of several musical numbers that do nothing to advance the plot, but Lympus, the ensemble, and choreography make this well worth its running time.

Becky Maltby, director Maltby's daughter, adds a perky performance as Lois Lane, a young actress of easy virtue. Two other HPU regulars, Patrick Casey (Harry Trevor /Baptista) and Carol Winters-Moorhead (Hattie), join Starr in giving solid performances in smaller roles. Musical director Emmett G. Yoshioka does an excellent job. Johnson and Becky Maltby were hard to hear on one of their big numbers, but the cast generally has no problem being heard over the four-piece orchestra. Such clarity is often lacking in local musical theater. Georg James' set is another major asset to this delightful show.

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