Cleveland Metropolitan School District Students Present “Kiss Me Kate” for the 17th annual All-City Musical April 22-24

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District will present the 17th annual All-City Musical  April 22 – 24 at the Ohio Theatre on Playhouse Square.

The production of “Kiss Me Kate,” with the music of Cole Porter, will feature the talents of nearly 50 CMSD studentsfrom across the District. Note: The performance dates are one month earlier than in previous years.

 Kimberly Sias, Director of All-City Arts, directs the production.  The Musical Theater Project joins the Human Fund this year as a producing partner.

The musical is presented with generous support from The Helen F. and Louis Stolier Family Foundation, The Edwin D. Northrop II Fund, The George Gund Foundation and Playhouse Square. Community partners include the City of Cleveland.

            “Kiss Me Kate” is a fun, melodious, and sophisticated production best described as “a musical within a musical.” The production draws source material from Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” The cast plays a present-day theatrical troupe performing a musical adaptation of the Shakespearean classic in Baltimore. But we learn very quickly that each cast member’s on-stage life is complicated by what happens offstage.

David Thomas will serve as musical director for the All-City production. Kevin Marr II and Jessica Spurlock will create thechoreography. Inda Blatch-Geib will design costumes and Colleen Albrecht will design lights.

The musical will open at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22. The production will continue with a Saturday evening showing at 7:30 p.m. and a closing matinee performance on Sunday at 3 p.m.  

All tickets are $15 and all seating is general admission. Tickets are available by phone at (216) 241-6000, online at www.playhousesquare.org and at the Playhouse Square Ticket Office.

“Kiss Me Kate” originally played for 1,077 performances on Broadway at the New Century Theatre and for 501 performances in London at the Coliseum Theatre. The original production, which starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang, earned five Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Produced Show, Best Script, Best Score, and Best Costumes.