Welcome to BWW's ON THIS DAY Series celebrating theatrical birthdays, openings and special events that took place on this day in theatre history!
Today in 1948, Kiss Me Kate opened at the Shubert Theatre. Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred AlfrEd Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. Kiss Me, Kate was a response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals, and it proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of Porter's shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. It won the first Tony Award presented for Best Musical, in 1949.
In celebration of this day, we bring you the performance from the 1999 revival at the Tony Awards. Click below to check it out!
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