Where I Watched It: Broadway HD

English Audio Description?: No

Thanks for continuing to indulge me on reviewing the lack of accessibility on Broadway HD. Tackling kiss Me Kate was a surprisingly dull experience. I wasn’t expecting it. I’m familiar with the songs, however I’ve never sat through an entire show before. I’ve heard numbers performed in cabarets and recitals, yet this production is so disappointing.

I realized as a show, it’s rather easy to put together. It’s a show within a show. So, you ahve the actors and production team busting out with Another Opening Another Show, and then eventually we get to the direct textual rips of Shakespeare and his work The Taming of The Shrew.

Cole Porter is one of the greatest American composers, and I’m a big fan of his music. So, I don’t have a problem with the music, or how creatively it is interwoven with Shakespeare, but the show outside of Shrew didn’t grab me at all. Someone had to write a book for just those parts, and it just falls so short. I didn’t care about the characters, and I kept wanting them to go back to the classic.

Usually, when I review one of these musicals that is essentially a recording of a live production, I ask the question is it better to watch this musical without audio description, thus suggesting you subscribe to Broadway HD, or should you just listen to the cast recording?

Since there’s no audio description to give me any notes on choreography, costumes, lighting, set design, blocking, and all the things that come along with a stage performance, it is just an audio work. What remains is a little bit of original text, a lot of Shakespeare, and Cole Porter’s terrific score. So, I lean on recommending that you just listen to the music. Porter is the main draw here, as there are several different adaptations of Taming Of The Shrew to choose from.

So, since I was offered nothing, and most of the content not featured on the cast album is written by William Shakespeare, whose works are easily available in the public domain, I can’t really say that this should get you to subscribe. Perhaps if I was able to enjoy the glory of the shiny production.

But seriously, if you don’t listen to Cole Porter, you are missing out. but this serves little to no purpose without accessibility.

Final Grade: unwatchable