Kiss Me, Kate is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, released in 1951 as Scrooge in Great Britain and as A Christmas Carol in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances.
Chicago is a 1975 American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the jazz age, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same title by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, about actual criminals and crimes on which she reported. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal".
Call Me Madam is a Broadway musical written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin.
Bianca Cappello was an Italian noblewoman who was the mistress, and afterward the second wife, of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Her husband officially made her his consort. Coincidentally, the creation of the fortunate term serendipity by the writer Horace Walpole is due to a portrait of Bianca.
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at the junction of Denman Street and Sherwood Street, near Piccadilly Circus, in the City of Westminster, London. It opened in 1928.
Sir John Selby Clements, CBE was a British actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film.
My Fat Friend is a play by Charles Laurence.
Wilfred Walter was an English film and theatre actor, sometimes credited as Wilfrid Walter. He was born Franz Wilfrid Walter, son of the actor Richard Walter.
Gerald Douglas Savory was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies.
To Dorothy, a Son is a 1950 comedy play by the British writer Roger MacDougall. The plot revolves around a complex inheritance in which the American ex-wife of a man tries to prevent his current pregnant wife giving birth before a certain day, in order that she can claim the money.
Alexander Mervyn Archdale was a British actor, manager and theatre producer. He had a very long career in both the theatre and in film, stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. He spent the latter part of his life and career in Australia.
The Living Room is a 1953 play by Graham Greene
The Outsider is a play by the British writer Dorothy Brandon. It portrays the struggle of an unorthodox medical practitioner to gain acceptance by the medical establishment. It was subsequently revised to show the unconventional triumphing over the conventional, whereas the play had originally had the opposite ending.
There's Always Juliet is a 1931 comedy play by the British writer John Van Druten about an American architect who falls in love with an Englishwoman.
Maidie Andrews was an English actress and singer who, in career that spanned six decades, was a child actress and later a stage beauty who appeared in musical comedy including the original London productions of No, No, Nanette (1925) and Cavalcade (1931). The latter years of her career saw her taking roles in television and film.
The Cardinal is a 1901 historical play by the British writer Louis N. Parker. It is set in Renaissance Italy at the height of the power of the Medici Dynasty.
Escapade is a 1952 play by the British writer Roger MacDougall.
Under the Counter is a musical comedy composed by Manning Sherwin from a book by Arthur Macrae with lyrics by Harold Purcell. The plot is centred around shortages and black market activity during wartime rationing.
The Happy Husband is a comedy play by the British-based Australian author Harrison Owen. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Portsmouth before transferring to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 109 performances between 15 June and 17 September 1927. The London cast included Madge Titheradge, Stella Arbenina, A.E. Matthews, Charles Laughton, Lawrence Grossmith, David Hawthorne, Carl Harbord in his West End debut, Marda Vanne and Ann Trevor. It was produced by Basil Dean. It was staged at the Empire Theatre on Broadway the following year, running for 72 performances.
