Corbin Bleu will star alongside Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase in the revival of “Kiss Me, Kate,” which is being updated for the 21st century.
Amanda Green, who wrote music and lyrics for “Hands on a Hardbody” and lyrics for “Bring It On,” will contribute additional material to the book, written by Sam and Bella Spewack for the original 1948 production. Green will not be writing new music nor changing the structure of the show, according to a press representative, but her contributions are meant to add a more modern sensibility to the musical.
Bleu, who was last on Broadway in Roundabout’s “Holiday Inn,” will play “Lucentio/Bill Calhoun,” appearing alongside Terence Archie as “Harrison Howell,” Mel Johnson Jr. as “Harry Trevor/Baptista,” Stephanie Styles as “Lois Lane/Bianca,” Adrienne Walker as “Hattie,” Lance Coadie Williams as “Gangster (Second Man)” and John Pankow as “Gangster (First Man).”
The Cole Porter musical follows a theater troupe putting on a musical production of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” as their own relationships and vices conflict with the live show on stage.
Additional cast members for the Roundabout production include Phillip Attmore, Darius Barnes, Preston Truman Boyd, Will Burton, Derrick Cobey, Jesmille Darbouze, Rick Faugno, Haley Fish, Marissa McGowan, Sarah Meahl, Christine Cornish Smith, Sherisse Springer, Sam Strasfeld and Ron Todorowski.
The revival, which opens on March 14, 2019 at Studio 54, will be directed by Roundabout Artistic Director Scott Ellis, with choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Paul Gemignani.
Other creative team members include David Rockwell as the set designer, Jeff Mahshie as the costume designer, Donald Holder as the lighting designer, Brian Ronan as the sound designer, David Brian Brown on hair and wig design, Larry Hochman on orchestrations and David Chase on dance arrangements.
