Panama Hattie 1940

Staged by the Department of Drama (SU Drama) in Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (SU: VPA), Kiss Me, Kate performs October 2-10 in the Archbold Theater at the Syracuse Stage/Drama Theater Complex, 820 East Genesee Street. Tickets range $17-$19 and can be purchased at vpa.syr.edu/drama, by phone at 315-443-3275, or in person at the box office, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tony Award-winning costume designer, JESS GOLDSTEIN (currently represented on Broadway with Jersey Boys and On the Town), and scenic designer DOUGLAS W. SCHMIDT are among the 2015 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 1, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Mr. Goldstein was selected to receive the 2015 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Schmidt will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.

Hattie Maloney(Julie Cardia), a nightclub singer in Panama City, tries to fit into the elite world of the American colony to which her fiancé, and single parent, Nick Bullett (Paul Anthony Stewart), belongs. Her prospective marriage to Nick hinges on the approval of his precocious 8-year-old daughter, Gerry (Madeleine Rose Yen), as well as that of his boss. Gerry has been chaperoned on her trip from the States by Vivian Budd (Jackson R. Best) a 'gentleman's gentleman' who gets bent to the breaking point by the wiles of Hattie's best friend Florrie (Lara Seibert). Nick's boss, an Army officer/engineer, Whitney Randolph (Daren Kelly), and the girls in the Canal 'social set' - Leila (Victoria Huston-Elem), Kitty-Belle (Claire Russell) and Mildred (Allison Maldonado) - prove even harder to win over than does Gerry. So what's needed are some major heroics and that is supplied when a plot to blow up the canal is foiled. Helping thwart the 'enemy' are three less-than-robust soldiers - Woozy (Antonio Addeo), Skat (John Bambery) and Windy (William Nash). Also contributing to our revival of this 1940 musical farce are Anne Marie Behr, Matthew Conti, Greg Etling, Jefferson Grubbs, Vanessa Hernandez, Annemarie Rosano and Christopher Woods. Director - Thomas Sabella-Mills. Music Director - David B. Bishop.