Keenon Hooks and Marisa Martinez Conspire to Bring Amazing Dance to "Kiss Me Kate" in San Pedro

Jan. 19, 2011 - PRLog -- The Relevant Stage (TRS), San Pedro’s musical theatre company, presents “Kiss Me, Kate” February 17 – 27 at the Warner Grand Theatre, 478 West Sixth Street.   This play-within-a-play, with music by Cole Porter and book by Sam and Bella Spewak, originally debuted on Broadway in 1948.  Ray Buffer directs.

The unparalleled music of Cole Porter combines with the brilliance of Shakespeare in Kiss Me, Kate! Using the Bard's The Taming of the Shrew to create a play-within-a-play, Kiss Me, Kate combines hilarious backstage comedy with romance, sizzling dancing, and Cole Porter's finest score, including timeless songs like "Too Darn Hot," "Always True To You In My Fashion," "Another Op'nin', Another Show," "So In Love" and "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." This all-new version won five Tony Awards in 2000, including Best Revival of a Musical.

“Kiss Me, Kate” stars Kristin Towers Rowles, Ray Buffer, Jessica Marie Taylor and Drew Fitzsimmons as the bickering couples whose offstage disputes ultimately entangle them with a pair of unexpectedly erudite gangsters (Greg Abbot and Michael Jay Aronovitz) and a megalomaniacal U.S. Army general (Martin Feldman).  Creative crew includes:  Stephen Tosh, musical direction; Richard Taylor, lighting design and Kara McLeod, costume design.

Frequent TRS leading lady, Kristin Towers-Rowles, takes on the role of Lilli/Vanessa, made famous by her screen and stage starlet grandmother, Kathryn Grayson.  Grayson is perhaps best known for her roles in “Anchors Aweigh” with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, and “Showboat” with Howard Keel as well as the 1953 MGM film adaptation of the musical, “Kiss Me Kate.“   This production takes on an additional poignancy opening on the exact one-year anniversary of her death, February 17, 2011.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

Keenon Hooks and Marisa Martinez dazzle with teamwork, skills and creativity - structuring the movement for the musical. As joint choreographers they work tirelessly to bring the most out of a talented cast of dancers, singers and actors.

Keenon Hooks returns to TRS after playing Daniel in “Seven Brides…Brothers”, and is pleased to not only be playing the role of Paul - who gets to perform “Too Darn Hot”, but also work as a choreographer. A graduate from Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts, he was recently awarded a 2010 StageSceneLa Award for Best Choreography in “Urinetown” at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre. He has also choreographed numbers for many shows including: “Footloose, Aida, Saturday Night Fever, Fosse, The Wiz, and Singin’ in the Rain.” As an actor, favorite Regional Credits include: recently dancing alongside Shirley Jones in “Cabrillo’s Holiday Spectacular”, Richie in “A Chorus Line”, Light of the World in “Godspell, Mrs. Taylor/Rev Hightower in “Bat Boy”, Hot Blades Harry in “Urinetown” – Geoffrey Award for Best Featured Actor, and Willard in “Footloose”. His next endeavors will be choreographing “Spelling Bee” at the Morgan Wixson Theater, and spending the summer in “The Music Man” at Utah Shakespeare Festival. He’d like to thank Ray Buffer & Marisa Martinez for this amazing experience, Steven Dry for his faith/trust and recently signing him to SCAW Inc, Mom & Calvin for their love and support, and to all his friends for being there for him and coming to play in this show!

Marisa Martinez is a Pacific Conservatory For The Performing Arts graduate, her Regional Theatre credits include West Side Story (Estella), The Music Man, White Christmas (Dance Captain), Bat Boy (Dance Captain), Guys and Dolls (Mimi and Martha), Christmas Carol (Dance Captain), World Premiere of "Imagine, Dream, Believe" (Solo performer/Dance Captain), Les Miserable (Swing), Curtains (Swing), Godspell (Swing), and most recently No No Nanette at DCLO. Other credits include A Chorus Line (Kristine), High School Musical (Taylor McKessie), 42nd Street (Lorraine), and Crazy For You. Film credits include Love (Angela), Dream Of Passion (Lexy), associate choreographer for The Fabulous Beakman Boys Commercial on Discovery Channel, associate choreographer for OMGTv Live!

“Kiss Me, Kate” plays for 12 performances beginning February 17 and runs Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2:30 and 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 and 7:00 p.m. General admission tickets are: $20 adult, $15 senior (55+)/college student, and $5 18 and under; Prestige Seating (first five rows, reserved seat) is $30 adult, $25 senior (55+)/college student, and $10 18 and under.  A special Wine Lover’s Package that includes Prestige Seating and wine tasting at Off The Vine across the street from the Warner Grand at 491 6th St. prior to the show is available for $40 per person.  Tickets can be ordered by phone at (800) 838-3006 or online at http://www.therelevantstage.com.

The Relevant Stage’s fourth season continues with, pending licensing agreements:  “Violet;”  “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change;”  “Annie;” “Frankenstein, the Musical; “Rent;” and the return of “The Christmas Carol.”   The company is offering a flexible subscription plan for its 2011 season of seven productions – just $75 for adults and $25 for 18 and under buys tickets to your choice of productions in 2011 at a discounted rate of nearly 50%.  Flexible subscription members enjoy a guaranteed seat to every TRS production.

ABOUT COLE PORTER

Cole (1891–1964), composer and lyricist was born into a family of wealth in Peru, Indiana, and he was educated at Yale and Harvard. Although he interpolated a few songs into earlier musicals, Broadway heard its first complete Porter score in the short-lived See America First (1915). While some songs he wrote for Hitchy-Koo (1919) and  Greenwich Village Follies of 1924 were noticed, it was his score for Paris (1928) and its hit song “Let's Do It” that launched his career. It was followed by  Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929), Wake Up and Dream! (1929), The New Yorkers (1930),  Gay Divorce (1932),  Anything Goes (1934),  Jubilee (1935), Red, Hot and Blue! (1936), You Never Know (1938),  Leave It to Me! (1938), and  Du Barry Was a Lady (1939). Porter's wartime musicals were mostly star-driven vehicles for Ethel Merman or Danny Kaye, but some superb songs could still be found in  Panama Hattie (1940),  Let's Face It! (1941), Something for the Boys (1943), Mexican Hayride (1944), and Seven Lively Arts (1944). One of his rare flops was Around the World in Eighty Days (1946), followed by his biggest hit,  Kiss Me, Kate (1948). Porter's later musicals were Out of This World (1950),  Can-Can (1953), and Silk Stockings (1955). His songs trafficked in a knowing, sometimes showy sophistication, and his generally silken melodies were combined with lyrics that ranged from suave and blasé to sexually obsessive and even raunchy. More than any other major songwriter, his songs seemed, except for some of his last musicals, to have a cavalier detachment from their shows. Biography: Cole Porter: A Biography, William McBrien, 1998.

ABOUT SAM & BELLA SPEWACK

Samuel (September 16, 1899 - October 14, 1971) and Bella Spewack (March 25, 1899 - April 27, 1990) were a husband-and-wife writing team.

Always known as a turbulent couple, the Spewaks were in the midst of their own marital woes in 1948 when they were approached to write the book for Kiss Me, Kate, which centered on a once-married couple of thespians who use the stage on which they're performing as a battling ground. Bella initially began working with composer Cole Porter on her own, but theatrical necessity overcame marital sparks, and the Spewacks completed the project together. It yielded each of them two Tony Awards, one for Best Musical, the other for Best Author of a Musical. It proved to be their most successful work.

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The Relevant Stage Theatre Company performs in residence at The Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, CA. TRS' mission is to challenge hearts, engage minds and expose truths. TRS tells relevant stories about the contemporary world we share.