I cannot speak to "Kiss Me Kate" but I LOVE 1776! As a history and a theater nerd, it's pretty much the perfect musical to me! You touched on the two major performances, but I also love Ron Holgate's energetic goofiness as Richard Henry Lee (watching him perform that song makes me think that he could play Stan in a Monkey Island movie) and John Cullum's dark intensity as Edward Rutledge. Superbly done! Both those parts are on my list of dream roles...
"The Lees of Old Virginia" is actually #1 on my iTunes top 25 most played list...
Glee! A forum-goer after my own heart! Actually, I could probably fill up a thread by myself about how amazing the whole cast was, but Holgate is a definite stand out in a dream cast. Seriously, the guy won a Tony for basically one song, and Cullum does have a fantastic voice. "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" just gets you in the gut. Kiss Me Kate has nowhere near the depth of 1776, but I enjoy it purely for the performances. It has Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Kathryn Grayson (not my favorite, but she does a pretty good job in this), Tommy Rall, Bob Fosse and more, and for once MGM kind of stepped back and let them do their thing. It's definitely worth catching on TV.
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Glee! A forum-goer after my own heart! Actually, I could probably fill up a thread by myself about how amazing the whole cast was, but Holgate is a definite stand out in a dream cast. Seriously, the guy won a Tony for basically one song, and Cullum does have a fantastic voice. "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" just gets you in the gut. Kiss Me Kate has nowhere near the depth of 1776, but I enjoy it purely for the performances. It has Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Kathryn Grayson (not my favorite, but she does a pretty good job in this), Tommy Rall, Bob Fosse and more, and for once MGM kind of stepped back and let them do their thing. It's definitely worth catching on TV.
im actually quite fond of the independent scene.
much love cheers
/me raises glass and toasts
* /me is dork talk.. fyi