Penn State Musical Experience!

Kiss Me Kate was my first performance at Penn State but not the first musical I had ever seen.  Like most other high school students, I attended the typical high school play every year. I always had friends who loved acting, and each fall I enjoyed watching every musical and play they were in. Unlike the high school shows I had seen, this performance was very professional.   It surprised me how well each person was able to not only act but sing and dance as well! For a college performance, it was even better than I had expected it to be. The costumes were very elaborate, and the set was very detailed. As I read the program I realized that every one in the show was a theatre or acting major of some sort.  I did not even know that we had a major for that! It was neat to read about each actor and the shows that they performed in while studying their major. 

I really enjoyed the genre of the show and while watching the performance, I laughed a lot. I felt like the genre was under the category of humor and romance, mostly humor though. I thought the jokes were great and not too crummy at all. The dancing and effects entertained me as well. I would most defiantly include this musical on my list of favorites, along with Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Phantom of the Opera. All these musicals are very different from Kiss Me Kate, and I think they are hard to compare with each other. But, if someone were to take me to this musical without knowing, I would have guessed it was equivalent to something from Broadway. After watching Kiss me Kate I will be on the look out for more musicals throughout the year. I’m looking forward to seeing other great performances!

I had never read Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, but I had heard about it in one of my English classes in high school. Even though I do not know what it is about, I think I could make a good guess about the plot. The time period was obviously different for Shakespeare, but I know that the story is a play within a play… or at least something like that.

My favorite part of the experience was watching the parts when there was a lot of dancing. At the beginning I did not expect the guys to know ballet as well as they did! I was amazed at how coordinated and well synchronized the dancers were. It was obvious that they spent a lot of time not only learning the choreography but also memorizing songs and words while dancing! I think that the actors here at Penn State are very talented. I only wish there more students watching the show than elderly people… everyone else is missing out!