By TERRY BYRNE
Boston Herald
Moments after "The Taming of the Shrew" opens, following the traditional theater announcement of no flash photos or recording devices allowed, an arrogant bounder starts snapping his shutter. Before you can say "gorgonzola," ushers have rushed after him, the bounder has leapt onto the stage and knocked down a curtain and police and EMTs with a stretcher arrive to capture the intruder.
This riotous scene is Rees' interpretation of the Christopher Fry prelude that kicks off "Shrew." Once Rees, as Fry, falls asleep to the strains of "Beautiful Dreamer," and is escorted off the stage by two cops (one of whom is Bebe Neuwirth), the "dream" action begins.
But there's nothing sleepy about Rees' vision of Shakespeare's battle of the sexes. This production is played out in bold strokes to thumping grooves of Italian pop. With designer Neil Patel's murals suggesting canned tomatoes on one side of the stage and a box of pasta on the other, Rees takes the stereotypical Italian trait of showy emotion and uses it to add spice to the tale of conquered love.
Rees and Neuwirth are well matched as the combatants Petruchio and Katherine. Neuwirth delivers Kate's haughty lines with her trademark sardonic style. But even in the initial battle of wits between Petruchio and Kate - delivered at a staccato speed - Rees and Neuwirth create a spark that builds to a flame by play's conclusion.
At the heart of Rees' version is a surprising passion Kate and Petruchio discover. Although Rees' Petruchio appears as a sneaker-clad slob, complete with soccer shirt and zippered jacket, his money-hungry wife hunter melts before Kate, even as he is in the midst of "taming" her.
This lusty sense of physical attraction between the two mutes some of Shakespeare's "woman as property" lines. Although Kate does a straight delivery of the line about being ready to put her hand under his heel, she does it while sitting on Petruchio's lap and caressing him. It turns what can be a leaden lesson into a sexy suggestion.
Although Rees' Italian-style adventure is a delightful frolic, he also is guilty of several excesses: a description of Petruchio's impending arrival at his wedding (by Sam Breslin Wright as Biondello) that is so over-the-top it seems to be its own play; Petruchio's servants inexplicably dressed as welders (goggles, masks and gloves!); Grumio dressed as an Elvis impersonator; and some liberties with the text taken only for the sake of a few cheap laughs.
Still, Rees' Italian vision of the play is clever always, even when it stoops to cute, and hilarious, and when he gets heavy-handed. His extraordinarily tight cast, which never drops its focus for an instant, provides deliciously detailed support in a production that probably shouldn't be tamed.