Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
MILL HILL MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY
  • Home
  • About Us
    • News >
      • Virtual Meetings
      • Spring 2021 Virtual Quiz Night
      • 2019 main show Oklahoma!
    • Past Productions >
      • The Gondoliers (1954)
      • Lilac Time
      • My Lady Jennifer
      • The Geisha
      • Trial by Jury / The Pirates of Penzance
      • Bitter Sweet
      • The Gipsy Baron
      • La Vie Parisienne (1960)
      • The Lilac Domino
      • Perchance to Dream
      • Ruddigore (1963)
      • La Belle Hélène
      • Die Fledermaus (1965)
      • Naughty Marietta
      • Gipsy Love
      • Valley of Song
      • Iolanthe (1969)
      • The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein
      • The Merry Widow (1971)
      • Oklahoma!
      • Iolanthe
      • A Jo-Olly Evening!
      • La Vie Parisienne
      • The Boyfriend
      • Ruddigore
      • The Mikado
      • Me and My Girl
      • Merrie England / Trial by Jury
      • Kiss Me Kate
      • HMS Pinafore
      • Songs From The Shows We'll Never Do
    • The MHMTC Committee
    • Contact us
  • Watch Us
  • Join Us
  • Support Us
  • Photo Gallery
    • Rehearsal Photos
  • Useful Links

Kiss Me Kate*

Autumn 2012



We performed Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate as our Autumn 2012 production. We put on five performances between 31st October and 3rd November 2012, including a matinee and two gala nights.

This was our first show in a new venue of Copthall School, Pursley Road, Mill Hill - a move necessary due to the redevelopment of our traditional home, Hartley Hall on Flower Lane. However we rehearse at a separate venue, John Keble Church Hall, meaning there was much pressure as show week approached to maximise the rehearsal time we did have at Copthall! Our leading man, Robert Barker, was also our set designer, so there was also much last-minute set building, and the cast enjoyed seeing new additions appear to the scenery as show week progressed...



You can find some behind the scenes pictures here.
Picture

SYNOPSIS

Kiss Me Kate is a play about a play. A theatrical group is presenting Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in Baltimore, Maryland. The cast includes Fred Graham and his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi, a gambler Bill Calhoun and his on/off girlfriend Lois Lane. Bill is involved with gangsters and owes $10,000 from a crap game but gave Fred’s name on the IOU.

In Act I, Fred and Lilli, though divorced, begin to realise they still have feelings for each other even though Lilli is about to marry General Harrison Howell. Flowers that Fred meant for Lois are sent mistakenly to Lilli before the show, making her think Fred has feelings for her, and she reciprocates. However on reading the card she discovers the flowers were meant for Lois. Lilli hotly announces she is leaving the show, but this is halted by the gangsters wanting their $10,000 from Fred, and she is left to continue under duress. All this is going on whilst trying to perform a play on stage with the chorus not entirely sure of the new dialogue and two new “actors” who have never been to rehearsals before.

In Act II, we return to The Taming of the Shrew to find Fred and Lilli’s characters, Petruchio and Katherine, now married. Meanwhile General Howell has arrived to take Lilli away for their wedding which has been arranged by him with military style. Lilli tries to convince the General that she is being held against her will and must leave. Bill catches Lois flirting with General Howell but she insists that she would always be true to him (in her own way) and deep down he loves her. With a shake-up in the gangster world, Bill’s IOU becomes void and Fred no longer needs to worry about the debt and lets Lilli leave. Lilli is not convinced that she should be with the General and although she left the play before the end of the show she comes back to play out the final scene, much to Fred’s delight.

CAST

Fred Graham / Petruchio
Lilli Vanessi / Katherine
Bill Calhoun / Lucentio

Lois Lane / Bianca
Harry Trevor / General Howell / Baptista
First Man
Second Man

Ruth
Paul / Gremio
Hattie  
Robert Barker
Clare Shah
Sean Lilley
Janice Edgar
Grant Graves
Harvey Kesselman
Roger Dowlen
Urusula Shah
Anil Aksay
Sharon Brandelli
Hortensio
Wardrobe Lady
Stage Doorman
Chorus
Robert Brown
Nikki Hovsepian
James Bingham
James Penton
Chris Hubbard
Celia Lyons
Diane Hammond
Farhat Dar
Emily Schermuly

ORCHESTRA

Conductor
Reed 1
Reed 2
Reed 3
Horn
Trombone
Michael Riley
Adam Stoodley
Victoria Bell
Mark Smith
Charlie Cooley
Melissa Brown
Trumpet 1
Trumpet 2
Piano
Synthesiser
Percussion
Mikey Thomas
Jacob Phillips
Gaspar Hunt
Danny Wallington
Josh Stadlen

TECHNICAL

Director
Musical Director
Set Construction & Design




Lighting
Costumes
Wardrobe
Jacqueline Mitchell
Solfa Carlisle
Robert Barker
James Bingham
Leo Brandelli
Gam Shah
Members of MHAOS
Stan Head
Rickmansworth Wardrobe
Chris Hubbard
Pam Erwood
Dressing Room Assistant
Wigs
Make-up
Stage Manager
Front of House
Box Office
Prompt
Stage Hand
Props
Pam Erwood
Janet Jomain
Linda Dowlen
Asif Siddiqui
Friends of the Society
Friends of the Society
Carolyn Killen
Ben Thompson
Janice Edgar
*Performances by the amateur group Mill Hill Amateur Operatic Society were by arrangement with MusicScope and Stage Musicals Ltd of New York
If you have comments regarding our website, please e-mail the webmaster.
© Mill Hill Musical Theatre Company 2013-19
MEMBERS
Proudly powered by Weebly