Kiss Me Kate (1953)
A musical version of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" and the play co-written by Sam & Bella Spewack (My Favorite Wife (1940)), this Dorothy Kingsley (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)) screenplay was directed by George Sidney. Multiple Oscar winners Andre Previn and Saul Chaplin received merely an Academy Award nomination for this movie's Score.
Howard Keel plays Fred Graham, an actor who's interested in playing the Petruchio character in Cole Porter's musical adaptation of the classic. He knows his ex-wife Lilli (Kathryn Grayson) would be perfect for "Katherine", so he conspires with Porter (Ron Randell), using the leggy Lois Lane (Ann Miller), to make her jealous enough to crave the role. Ms. Lane gets the "Bianca" role. Her dancer boyfriend Bill (Tommy Rall) is a gambler that forges Graham's name on an IOU such that Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore, playing hoods that represent the owed gangster, monitor the play, and even sing! Bobby Van and Bob Fosse are other dancers in the production. Willard Parker plays a millionaire Texan that falls for Lois. Life imitates art or vice versa.
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