Time marches on, even for an old warhorse of musical theater like Kiss Me Kate, and one sign of the future manifested itself, unlikely as it may seem, in Kansas, where the Iola Community Theatre produced the musical March 9-12, with David Dutton and Anita Fairchild:
So what was novel about the production? Simply the fact that it was videotaped, which was unusual then but commonplace now. And it means that maybe there’s a copy still around in an attic or archive somewhere!
Concurrently, and somewhat to the north, Kingston, Ontario, was where the Bayridge Secondary School put on their production, starring Tom Purvis and Sandy Burrell, from March 5 through 12:
As those productions were finishing, another was starting up in Illinois, where Rend Lake College did KMK March 12-20. And if Iola innovated, one aspect of Rend Lake’s version was very traditional, to wit, the choice of graphics:
Tom Nance was Fred, and the role of Lilli was split across the four performances between Beverly Walker and Beki Mattingly.
Opening on April 29 and continuing through May 7, the production at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, starred Nicholas Scoll and Deborah Jordan. Giving a preview of the show for the local press, they managed to squeeze two highlights together and did the spanking whilst singing one of the songs:
The reporter didn’t say which song it was, but I kinda hope it was ‘Wunderbar’!
The production at George Mason High School, Virginia, had a very short rehearsal period of just fifteen days, which may have been a relief for Kathleen Martin when it came to rehearsing this scene with Dennis Fain:
That spring, in Syracuse, New York, Pat Kosior married Bill Salomone. Before long, she found herself across his knee being spanked. The reason? Needless to say, it was because they were playing Fred and Lilli in the Pompeian Players production that ran for six performances between May 5 and 15:
During that run, on May 8, KMK was also to be seen at Lincoln Way High School, New Lenox, Illinois, with Sam Cereskin and Marge Kloos, neither of whom made the program cover:
On another continent in another hemisphere, the Bulawayo Theatre Club, Rhodesia, staged Kiss Me Kate May 27 through June 11:, with Warren Marsh and Maureen Dyer – and they did make the program cover!
So did Patrice Munsel in the June 7-19 production at the Chateau de Ville Dinner Theatre, East Windsor, Connecticut, only not in the best possible way, and without her Fred, the indefatigable Bob Wright:
It was an ill-starred production with an inadequate sound system, and during one performance Patrice had a serious fall that left her with a broken leg. Luckily for her, her next engagement, in Philadelphia, was much less physically demanding than KMK: she was to be Elizabeth Barrett Browning in How Do I Love You?, which meant spending most of the play reclining on a couch!
Meanwhile, in California, Bakersfield College Outdoor Theatre was presenting KMK June 10-23, with Darrell Cates and Maureen Russell:
And a few weeks later, John D. Lauck and Sally Bublitz struck a very similar pose to publicize the Michigan Repertory production that ran July 5-10 at the Power Center, Ann Arbor:
An unseasonable darkness seems to have descended on Howard Bucholz and Denise Gosselin, who were Fred and Lilli at St Anselm’s College, Manchester, New Hampshire, August 12 through 21:
A new school year, a new crop of Kiss Me Kate spankings! Here are Tom McDowell and Kathy Benkert giving it what they’ve got at Monroe High School, Wisconsin, where the musical was staged September 28 through October 2:
In Scotland, KMK was the annual production of the Hamilton Operatic and Dramatic Club:
Now meet Miss Arlyne Garrity of Manchester, Connecticut.
She did a series of one-woman shows presenting classic musicals with herself playing all the parts. In November, she got around to Kiss Me Kate, and was both Fred and Lilli – which meant she had to give herself a good spanking!
At least Kena Bengsch had Greg Dahlman to do that for her in the November 15-19 production Hillcrest High School, Springfield, Missouri; and he did it not only with enthuiasm, but two ways round!
November 25 through December 3 saw the musical at Anaconda Community Theater in Montana, with Ralph Schmidt and Pat Haugen. How hard was she spanked? The ‘cushion moment’ from the second act may give us a clue!
Finally, Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, was the place to be December 1 through 3, to see Tony Luper spank Lisa Morton:
And on to 1978…
Vanilla Spanking 