We left off in the spring, and we pick up on May 1… only not onstage, or on film or television, or any other performance medium. The date marks the publication of Kissing Kate, a comic novel by actor Bradford Dillman, based around an amateur production of Kiss Me Kate. The story manages to make almost nothing of the spanking scene, unlike the cover:
It is just possible that you might find the image a little familiar… If you can’t quite place it, click here for enlightenment!
Onstage in May, the Riverside Center Dinner Theater production opened in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and ran until July:
Also opening in May (21, to be precise), but running even longer (till September 3, to be precise), the amateur company Waldbühne Heessen staged their prodution in the open-air Theater auf der Freilichtbühne in Hamm, Germany. Here are Fred and Lilli:
And here is the other end of Lilli, being spanked by Fred:
Also in Germany, and also at around this time, at a high school in Bochum:
Over in Connecticut, June 16 through July 3 were the KMK dates at TriArts Sharon Playhouse, where Tony Lawson and Mary Jayne Raleigh were the stars:
July 28 through August 20 were when you could see Ashley Adler spanked by Ryan C. Keller for the College Light Opera Company at Highfield Theatre, Falmouth, Massachusetts:
On to August, when the Huntington Playhouse production opened in Ohio on the 18th; and on to September, when it closed on the 11th:
In England, South Manchester Amateur Operatic Society produced the show October 18 through 22:
Concurrently in Kansas, October 20 through 22 were the dates for the production at Sterling College:
Back to England the very next week, where the Crawley Operatic Society production could be seen October 25 through 29, with Tim Wray and Heather Kemeys:
And so to Denmark, where the show was performed by the Birkerød Musik-Dramatiske Forening on November 11, which meant Camilla Brylle could perhaps count herself lucky that Lars Palm only used his palm – and not a birch-rod!
Back in England, the Benfleet Operatic Society produced the musical November 16-19. Rob Gray and Jackie Newman were Fred and Lilli, but neither made the program cover:
In New York, with a run from November 25 through December 3, here’s the spanking scene spectacularly performed by the Gatesingers Company of Williamson:
The Landestheater of Schleswig-Holstein opened the show on December 16 and it ran through May 28, 2006, which meant a lot of spankings for Sylvia Wieland, courtesy of Guido Weber:
To add to her misfortunes, this was one with a raised skirt and a frilly theatrical compromise between period bloomers and modern panties, as you can just about see here:
In contrast, there’s a dishonorable mention for the Light Opera Group of the Negev, an amateur group in Israel. Their production was touted as the local premiere of the 1999 revised version of Kiss Me Kate, but it made a significant, unwelcome and artistically unjustified change that was completely contrary to the 1999 innovations. Specifically, Fred was untrue to his earlier threat of ‘the paddling of your life, and right onstage’; he did say the line, very sotto voce, but when the moment came, he dragged Lilli offstage into the wings to spank her unseen. The video may be viewable here – but the spanking isn’t!
Finally for this year, a couple of elusive entries. First, a production at an unknown high school:
And a production that remains completely unidentified:
And so ends the year 2005…
Vanilla Spanking 