“A dicka dick.” No, not the randy ramblings of a Grindr bear, but a tongue-in-cheek lyric from Cole Porter’s double entendre-laden hit musical Kiss Me, Kate which along with repeated refrains of the b-word and a scene in a gents lavatory in which an actor does a George Michael and “receives his public” before a performance, must have raised more than a few conservative eyebrows not to mention closeted men’s pulses after its 1948 opening.

Risqué then, but gloriously entertaining now in Opera North’s fabulous revival of their 2015 co-production with Welsh National Opera which under the creative control of director Jo Davies, choreographer Will Tuckett and conductor James Holmes wowed the opening night audience at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh where its short UK tour comes to a close on Saturday.

Using a touring production of Billy Shooglestick’s romantic comedy The Taming of the Shrew as a backdrop to the unravelling and subsequent rewinding of two fiery relationships between members of the 28-strong cast, the star of the show is the show itself.

And by that I mean the music and lyrics of Cole Porter which are as tight as the fix Fred Graham (Quirijn de Lang) finds himself in when his bouquet of flowers and handwritten love letter to the object of his affection Lois Lane (Zoe Rainey) are intercepted by his former partner Lilli Vanessi (Stephanie Corley) who misinterprets the gifts as a rekindling of their romance.

When the truth is out, “So In Love” she bleeds in one of the most haunting love songs in a Broadway musical and the sole number which stirs the heart (even more so when it is reprised in Act 2 by the jilted Fred) in this raucous and raunchy production which as references to the then controversial and newly published Kinsey Report suggest is about human sexuality in all its complexities: lust and infidelity, jealousy and revenge, passion and power, and what the late, great Freddie Mercury called this “crazy little thing called love”.

If Fred and Lilli are fist fighting (or rather bottom spanking and face slapping) in the red mist corner, then Lilli and her blue-eyed boy Bill (a terrific Alan Burkitt who excels in every department as an actor, singer and dancer) are staring one another out in the moody blues corner after the latter blows ten grand at the casino before discovering that his girlfriend has blown half the guys in Baltimore.

Also on terrific form is Stephane Anelli as Paul who adds some va va voom to the opening number of the second act Too Darn Hot; and Joseph Shovelton and John Savournin as the gunslinging gangsters-turned-front of curtain comedians with the Ronseal-inspired names of First and Second Gunmen. The tall and glaikit Savournin playing Laurel to Shovelton’s droll and dumpy Hardy. A comedic partnership which has the audience in stitches with a meticulously executed performance of Brush Up Your Shakespeare.

Give or take the odd Dick Van Dyke accent and a caginess to Act 1 brought about by back-to-back numbers on Shakespearean plot twists and a series of low notes which appear to weigh heavy on the cast, this production is a crowd-pleaser from beginning to end which is sure to upturn the moodiest of gurns into the cheeriest of grins.

The cast are top class; as are the musicians. The set changes are as slick as the direction and choreography. And the humour is bawdy, but perfectly pitched. However, it is the genius of Cole Porter’s music and lyrics which elevate the two hours and fifty minutes of song and dance from hot to “Too Darn Hot”.

Peter Callaghan
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