It is 1948, and at the Ford Theatre in Baltimore, a theatre company are preparing for the opening night of a new musical based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. They are led by impresario Fred Graham who is not only directing and producing the show, but also starring as the romantic lead Petruchio. Controversially, he has hired his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi to perform opposite him as the ‘shrew’, Katherine. Both have seemingly moved on, with Fred having an affair with the young actress Lois Lane, who is playing Katherine’s sister Bianca, and Lilli recently engaged to war veteran General Harrison Howell. The estranged couple fight constantly, eventually affecting the production and the people around them.
Some background about The Taming of The Shrew by William Shakespeare:
Baptista, a gentleman of Padua has two daughters. The youngest Bianca is beautiful and polite and has several suitors eager for her hand in marriage. However, Baptista refuses to let Bianca marry until he has found a husband for his older daughter Katherine, the ‘shrew’ of the title. Katherine is aggressive and rude bullying her sister and insulting any man who comes near her. When Petruchio arrives from Verona in search of a rich wife, Bianca’s suitors persuade him to woo Katherine promising to pay him any costs necessary. Petruchio accepts the challenge, but when he meets her, she subjects him to a torrent of abuse. He tells her that he will marry her whether she likes it or not, and arranges the wedding with Baptista.
Meanwhile, back in Padua, Bianca has fallen in love with one of her suitors, Lucentio.
On the day of the wedding, Petruchio arrives late and dressed inappropriately. He forces Katherine to leave before the wedding feast. Once they have arrived back at his house Petruchio tries to ‘tame’ his wife by depriving her of food, sleep and new clothes, but constantly praising her and telling her how much he loves her.
Petruchio and Katherine return to Padua, and on the way, he constantly disagrees with everything she says, forcing her to say that the sun is the moon and that an old man is a young woman. Finally worn down, Katherine agrees to everything her husband says. At the feast following Lucentio’s marriage Petruchio and Lucentio have a bet that each can make their wife come to them when they are sent for. To everybody’s surprise Bianca refuses but Katherine comes when she is called, she delivers a speech about the duty women owe their husbands. Having won the bet, Petruchio and Katherine leave the banquet to go to bed.
