Kiss Me, Kate and the Contemporary

Abstract Chapter 8 considers Kiss Me, Kate in the twenty-first century, working from the celebrated 1999 Broadway revival to the present day. Here, it examines our retrospective attitudes to gender in the 1940s and what the priorities of the creative team were judged to be. Contrasting the 1999 Kiss Me, Kate with the 2019 Roundabout production, this chapter explores how the gender politics of Kiss Me, Kate are revised and rebalanced to suit modern concerns about the setup of its comedy. The conclusion returns to the 1948 production and ways of situating Kiss Me, Kate historically and for audiences now. Ultimately, the chapter proposes that the original creative team were extremely thoughtful about gender in Kiss Me, Kate and that its fun and glamour are counterbalanced with an edginess that explores the lived experience of women subject to misogyny without apologizing for it.