Rating: 
Summary: Nice production well captured
Review: I have just seen the DVD and I cannot understand some reviews here. Rachel York is brilliant and charming. The dancing scenes are well captured
I saw this musical in NY with Marin Mazzie. It was great and so is this version.
I strongly recommend this DVD for musical fans.
Rating:
Summary: Standing Ovation For Kiss Me Kate
Review: I saw Kiss Me Kate on TV and thought it was amazing. I loved it so I went and saw the play at a local Theater. Now I want to bye it on tape.
Rating: 
Summary: Great performance, poor technical factors
Review: I saw the PBS broadcast and was favorably impressed by the performance, sufficiently so to buy the DVD. While still enjoying the performance, I have a few complaints about the DVD:1. Poor video transfer. Darker areas of the screen blend to black and the colors are garish at times. Too much edge enhancement with associated artifact. My homemade VHS tape has better picture at times. 2. Odd sound mixing - Nominally this is Dolby 5.1 but the stage sound and singing is highly concentrated in the center channel so there is no sense of movement as the actors move on stage. The left and right channels serve more for audience noises. Makes you think they only had a mono tape and generated the mix off of that. I wish they'd taken the time to do a better job with this.
Rating:
Summary: Great Production! A Must have for any theatre fan!
Review: I saw this show on tour and couldn't wait for the Great performances to be on TV. This production is great and Rachel York and so is the rest of the cast. This show is funny and very enjoyable. This is by far my favorite revival of a great classic show. This is a must have for any theatre fan! This show will put you in a great mood and you can't help but make all your friends watch it also! This DVD is for everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Brush Up Your Cole Porter!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this production when I saw it in London (with these performers). Nothing thrilled me more than the thought that I would be able to purchase a copy of the performance. I was not disappointed! The singing and acting were superb. I wish there was a tad more dancing (as I did when I saw the show), but all in all it was good. I wish there had been some more features, like interviews with the cast. However, this DVD is enjoyable enough on its own!
Rating: 
Summary: Kiss Me Kate Broadway Revival DVD a disappointment
Review: I was very disappointed when I finally received this long-anticipated DVD. The performance itself was very good, but the way it was filmed was a HUGE disappointment. There seemed to be only one camera angle-- focusing on a small part of the stage for the entire length of the performance. There were NO shots of the entire state, and in scenes where action took place in more than one part of the stage at the same time, the "Pan and Scan" method ws used-- cutting off most of the stage and then switching to the other side. I saw the original Broadway show with Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazie, and know that there was a LOT going on on stage, and that this film sidn't show it all.
Another big problem with this DVD is that there are no extras. I was hoping for cast and crew information, plus some "Making of" features, but there were none. In addition, there were NO closed captions! I watched the PBS presentation of the film, and there were closed captions on TV. Why were they not included? I hope that there will be another edition of this film, because this one just isn't worth it.
My rating: the performance itself: 4.5 stars; the DVD, 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Rachel is worth it
Review: I was very excited to see this, having seen the original cast (lead by Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell) on broadway. For some reason the energy of this cast does not transfer into the audience. Brent Barrett, I'm sorry to say, is a sad replacement for Stokes. Nancy Anderson (who has been wonderful in other roles) is squeaky and annoying in this one.
The one reason I'd give to watch this is Rachel York, who seems to be perfect in just about every role she takes on. I saw and loved Marin Mazzie, but Rachel York can certainly hold her own. She has a wonderful voice, amazing comic timing, and is quite beautiful on top of it all. She embodies Lily Vanessi brilliantly in this production. It's just a shame that her fellow cast-members can't do the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Love that Rachel York, but the production stalls
Review: I'm definitely a Rachel York fan -- she was a SCREAM in the Broadway production of "Victor/Victoria". But on the whole this production of "Kiss Me Kate" seems a bit flat. The songs are fine if a bit dated in style, but the production design for the stage show comes across as a bit low-rent. It looks like very good amateur theatre at best. Rent this if you can before commiting to a purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been so much better
Review: I've seen a production of the original script (college), the movie version, the Broadway revival, and this version when it was first shown on PBS. While the performers were adequate, something about the pacing of this performance cast a pall over the show. The director opted to have characters draw out sequences that would have played better up to speed (Act I finale) and let other characters toss their lines away so quietly and so quickly that I wouldn't have known what was said had I not been so familiar with the show (Bill Calhoun). I tend to collect as many Broadway and movie musicals as I can, but this effort will not become part of it. If you have never seen a version of the show before, you should find it mildly entertaining, otherwise see the older movie version.
Rating:
Summary: Should have been so much better
Review: I've seen a production of the original script (college), the movie version, the Broadway revival, and this version when it was first shown on PBS. While the performers were adequate, something about the pacing of this performance cast a pall over the show. The director opted to have characters draw out sequences that would have played better up to speed (Act I finale) and let other characters toss their lines away so quietly and so quickly that I wouldn't have known what was said had I not been so familiar with the show (Bill Calhoun). I tend to collect as many Broadway and movie musicals as I can, but this effort will not become part of it. If you have never seen a version of the show before, you should find it mildly entertaining, otherwise see the older movie version.
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