When squabbling ex-married's are cast as squabbling Renaissance romantics, the situation becomes a case of art imitating life imitating art, where each cast member's life is complicated by what is happening offstage and vice versa. This exuberant show-within-a-show throws together gun-toting strangers, sparring actors and romantic entanglements against a backdrop of a 1940's touring musical production of "The Taming of the Shrew."

The original Broadway production of "Kiss Me, Kate" opened on December 30,1948 and ran for 1077 performances, winning the (first ever)Tony Awards for Best Musical,Book and Score in 1954. Fifty years later, the 1999 Broadway revival of "Kiss Me, Kate" went on to triumph as one of the biggest prize-winners of the 2000 season.

Renaissance Music Theater brings this lively revival to a smaller, more intimate venue with sparkle intact: Cole Porter and William Shakespeare in the Spewacks' "Kiss Me Kate" at prices everyone can afford.