Quick theater review: The touring company of Kiss Me Kate is camped at the Shubert Theater in Los Angeles for next month or so. This is the same production still playing on Broadway (though probably soon to close) where I saw it twice. Since this is a touring company, we get different stars, the same costumes, the same arrangements, the same revised book, and approximations of the same direction and choreography. The sets follow the same basic designs but have been simplified and downsized so they can be trucked from town to town.
I loved this show in New York but only liked it a lot in L.A., where the stars are Rex Smith and Rachel York. Smith is good and York is great but the chemistry between them — so essential to this tale of a warring theatrical couple performing in a musicalization of The Taming of the Shrew — doesn't quite click. But each scores with great solo turns, and the dance numbers are outstanding. The Act Two opener — "Too Darn Hot" — is worth the price of admission alone and so is the performance of Nancy Anderson in the role of Bianca/Lois. (I loved the lady who played it in N.Y. and Ms. Anderson is even better…)
So the news of what's on the stage is generally good. What isn't good is the news that the Shubert Theatre has only a year to live before it will be razed to make room for a 15-story office building. Playgoing in this town has been bad enough without losing the 2,100 seat Shubert where I saw Evita, A Chorus Line, Sunset Boulevard, 42nd Street, Ragtime and so many others. Some folks had figured that whenever The Producers makes its way west, it would wind up at the Shubert, especially if The Lion King remains ensconced another year at the Pantages, as seems likely. Los Angeles will probably lose a lot of great plays, simply because there's no place to play them.