As Fred Graham, the egotistical manager of a second rate theatre company stuck in Baltimore, Juan Chioran brings his songs to full vocal and theatrical life. As does Chilina Kennedy, who plays the sexy chorus girl, Lois Lane… Her rendition of Always True to You in My Fashion is a showstopper.

“..with great performances from Chioran, Lund and Kennedy, with direction as smart as it fun and with one of the best scores of any musical, Stratford’s “Kiss Me, Kate” is one summer musical you won’t want to miss.”

‘Doyle has concocted a thoroughly funny spin on this classic musical that is itself a spin on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.”…and certainly the bawdiness of this production would have seemed right at home on the Elizabethan stage.’

Smith desribes the show as “a rough, British pantomime of a show, replete with silly visual gags and dropped-in jokes…Kiss Me Kate isn’t vaudevillian musical theatre as Doyle suggests. It’s a sophisticated musical with real heart and soul. Too bad these are the very qualities that have been pummelled out of it here.”

“Kennedy is a tornado dancer, a dynamite singer with a voice as true as powerful, and a lithe and delectable looker. She’s also an actress, able to take a role to its limits.” He loved the show.

“The loveliest, purest moments of this misconceived revival come from Steve Ross and Cliff Saunders as two comic gangsters. Their rendition of Brush Up Your Shakespeare shines brightly amidst the dross.”

“Chioran’s Fred is more than an egomaniacal buffoon. He attempts dignity at all cost and fails just often enough. And what a lovely voice. Seeing his bad-musical Petruchio makes me want to see what his Shakespearean Petruchio would look like. I suspect terrific.”

Nestruck’s full review: “It moves from dreamy and romantic to spare and serious to farcical and over the top – and that’s just in the first few scenes.” 3.5/4 Stars

“Doyle makes a perplexing festival debut with a production that, despite its silly excesses, had the audience eating out of its hand…Chilina Kennedy carves another notch in her belt as a rising festival star.”

Coulbourn has reservations, especially about the transformation of the Festival’s unique thrust stage into a traditional proscenium (avoid seats on the sides), but concludes with…”Totally devoid of subtlety or nuance…Doyle’s production nonetheless is a crowd pleaser. 2.5/5 Stars

3/4 Stars from Nestruck’s quick review.”Chilina Kennedy is, once again, just Too Darn Hot….director Doyle’s attempts to add depth to a shallow musical leads to an uneven and often confusing tone.”

2.5/4 Stars from Ouzounian, but: “Chilina Kennedy walks off with the show by knowing how to put a beating heart underneath a cartoon and making nightclub vamp Lois Lane a truly funny original. Add to this the fact that she belts her numbers out with pipes of solid gold, dances with real sex appeal and looks great makes her a real winner.”