Kiss Me, Kate (1948 Original Broadway Cast)
Opening at the tail end of 1948,Kiss Me, Katebecame an instant classic--and amazingly didn't receive a full-scale revival until1999.  All the more reason to revel in its original version. With its cunning play-within-a-play premise (a musical update ofThe Taming of the Shrewreverberates in backstage feuds), brilliant mix of high and low comedy, and of course some of Cole Porter's better-known songs--"So in Love," "I Hate Men," Too Darn Hot," "Always True to You (In My Fashion)"--Kiss Me, Kateremains a funny, zesty hall of mirrors.  Hard as you may try to find a fly in the ointment, there's no fault with the cast either--Patricia Morison, for instance, is a perfectly petulant Lilli Vanessi.--Elisabeth Vincentelli