Kiss Me, Kate is the 1953
MGM film adaptation of the
Broadway musical of the same name.
Inspired by
The Taming of the Shrew, it tells the tale of two once-married, now-divorced
musical theater actors, Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, who are performing opposite each other in the roles of
Petruchio and
Katherine in a
Broadway-bound musical version of
William Shakespeare's play. Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the production's success. The only thing keeping the show together are threats from a pair of gangsters, who have come to collect a gambling debt from the show's Lucentio, Bill Calhoun. In classic musical comedy fashion, slapstick madness ensues before everything is resolved.