He’s probably seen it close to 100 times, but there’s one move in the dance-heavy musical "Kiss Me, Kate" that leaves director Darko Tresnjak speechless.
“The first time I saw it, I jumped out of my seat," said the former artistic director for the Old Globe Shakespeare Festival.
"There is this one move called the 'banana peel' and it’s the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, but really fun,” he said.
The actress, Megan Skikora, spirals over a male dancer’s back and slides along the floor in front of him in a showstopping number called "Tom, Dick, or Harry."
But apparently it’s just one of the big numbers in "Kiss Me, Kate," which was Cole Porter's big Broadway hit and the first musical to win a Tony Award in 1949.
"I sometimes think it has more famous songs than any other musical," Tresnjak said.
It's about a company of actors trying to pull off a musical version of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." Backstage shenanigans ensue. "It’s about a lot of fun bad behavior," said the Yugoslavian-born director. "It’s about a lot of fabulous people behaving badly."
"Kiss Me, Kate" is a co-production between The Old Globe and the Hartford Stage in Connecticut, where Tresnjak is now artistic director. The same was true for "A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder," last year’s hit Broadway musical, which won multiple Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Director.
"Kiss Me, Kate" is currently in previews. It opens Thursday and runs through Aug. 2 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park.
