Corbin Bleu and Stephanie Styles on Tapping, Flirting and Falling in Love in Kiss Me, Kate
With its brassy songs, high-energy hoofing, outrageous plot and unabashed love of all things show, no classic musical screams “Broadway musical comedy” like Kiss Me, Kate. A fun tonic from the love/hate relationship of lead characters Lilli Vanessi and Fred Graham (Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase), is the sexy pairing of Bill Calhoun and Lois Lane, who flirt backstage while starring in Graham’s touring Taming of the Shrew musical. In Roundabout Theatre Company’s acclaimed new revival of the 71-year-old show, the parts are deliciously played by Corbin Bleu—who has spent a decade going from High School Musical phenom to high-energy stage song and dance man—and stunning newcomer Stephanie Styles as exudes all the glamour of a starlet of the the Golden Age of Hollywood. After posing for these original snaps by contributor Matthew Murphy, Broadway.com caught up these showstoppers during a break from stopping their new Broadway hit.
in Kiss Me, Kate (Photo by Joan Marcus)
Big congrats on the success of Kiss Me, Kate. This show seems right up both your alleys.
STEPHANIE STYLES: I'm having the time of my life. Yeah, we are really getting to do the things that we really love to do. And everyone's pushed us to be the best version of us.
CORBIN BLEU: This show really does get to showcase everybody in their best light. [To Styles] From day one in rehearsals when I started watching your numbers... “Always True to You in My Fashion” is a very long song, and there are many, many verses. Every single verse is so interesting and so funny and fun to watch. It's a credit to her and t's a credit to our creative team. Every single number just pops, pops, pops, pops! It's exhausting on our end sometimes, but it's a really fun show to do.
STYLES: Now it’s Corbin Compliment Hour. What's great about Corbin also speaks to the whole production. We are giving you the Kiss Me, Kate that you know and love but then you get a little twist. Especially with what [choreographer] Warren Carlyle’s doing in “Bianca.” I mean, that number is always been a showstopper, but now [pointing to Bleu] he does things that I literally did not think were humanly possible! And he's doing them with such ease! Has that number ever been a tap number?
BLEU: Not on Broadway. At the beginning, Warren was just thinking it was going to be a soft shoe. And I said, “I'm comfortable with tap, just so you know.” And that is how “Bianca” ended up being a tap number. He had the idea to build in these bars at the top of the stage that I now hang off of like a monkey.
STYLES: He taps upside down! It's unbelievable.
BLEU: It was Warren! He has these grand ideas that you really don't think are going to be humanly possible. And he just kind of says, “Do it. Try it.” And you go, “OK, sure!”
STYLES: And then you do it eight times a week. It stops the show every night.
This whole company is pretty incredible, from the leads down to every dancer.
BLEU: I have a story.
STYLES: Oh, gosh. I'm ready.
BLEU: So before we started, just knowing that it was going to be Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase and you… I had a dream.
STYLES: I haven't heard this.
BLEU: Woke up in a full sweat. I had a dream that I was sitting around a table at a reading with all of you, and everybody started whispering about the person that shouldn't be there.
STYLES: [Gasps.]
BLEU: And eventually I was like, “Are you guys talking about me?!”
STYLES: No!
BLEU: And I think it just speaks to how much I admire all of the people that I'm working with and how incredible I think everybody is. Of course I got over it.
STYLES: It was a dream!
BLEU: I mean, the cast is a group of giants. I mean really heavy hitters. And it shows on stage.
Corbin, you’ve gone from High School Musical to transforming into a real song-and-dance man and Stephanie, you’re Broadway’s newest bombshell. This show gives you such opportunity to show off some real old-school talents. Do you feel like you’re from another era?
STYLES: We’re very different types of performers, yet we're so similar in the things we love. And what's ironic is I think both of our last musicals were Cole Porter musicals. Corbin did Anything Goes and I was in Roman Holiday. Yet we've both done contemporary—In the Heights, Newsies… But I think [classic musicals are] the foundation of what we do.
BLEU: [To Styles.] It fits like a glove on you. And I honestly feel the same way for me. I grew up watching all the old MGM films with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, and I have always admired the genre but I didn't realize it until I started doing it more, how much I fit into the genre. My family's always made fun of me. I'm a little bit of an old man.
STYLES: Same! All we talk about is watching The Great British Bake Off and sleeping.
BLEU: [Laughs.] I think there's a bit of an old soul in the both of us that just sort of fits. I also think there's a magic to these shows. Kelli O'Hara said it the best the other day.
STYLES: [Giggles.]
BLEU: I still can't get over that I'm working with her by the way.
STYLES: I know!
BLEU: Kelli said that these old musicals—their foundation is love. And she's such a believer in love. And I am, too. I'm very much a hopeless romantic. Love will always succeed, and it's magical.
STYLES: And we love doing it. We love these types of shows.
Stephanie, is it really true you never saw High School Musical before getting cast opposite Corbin?!
STYLES: OK, I am a charter member of D23, the official Disney fan club. And, you know, Corbin was telling his story about his pre-show jitters or whatever. My thing was, “Oh my God. I have never seen High School Musical!” So my entire family sat down and we watched it. And so good, so good. I still have to see the sequels but I have seen “I Don't Dance,” and guess what? He does dance! In Kiss Me Kate. See it on Broadway!
Now you know why he's a big deal.
STYLES: I know him as a Broadway guy. Like, that's what you were saying!
BLEU: Which I love!
STYLES: He’s become a Broadway guy. And like, my favorite type of Broadway guy, in that you do like the old shows and the new shows. I'm the key demo for Corbin Bleu!
So what was it like getting in the rehearsal room and creating this fun chemistry between the characters of Bill and Lois?
STYLES: One thing I love about Lois and Bill is that from the beginning, even though it's this old show, they have a very equal relationship. They call each other out on what they need to call each other out on. And they totally support each other. The other day, my mom was in the car and she said, “Why does he call you Sarah Bernhardt?” And what I love about that line—he just comes in and says, "Hey, Sarah Bernhardt"—it’s because he believes in me. He's like, you're going to be a big Broadway star like Sarah Bernhardt.
BLEU: I love the relationship. I think that both of them are very selfish but they are very much in love.
STYLES: A team.
BLEU: They are. They're a team. And no matter what, as much as they do this over and over again, they just, they can't get away from each other. They can't stop their love.
Is it fun to play show people?
STYLES: [To Bleu.] Have you ever played an actor before?
BLEU: Yeah. I did Singin’ in the Rain and I played Don Lockwood. And Holiday Inn is also about performers. I love shows about shows. And then this one is a show within a show, within a show.
STYLES: Meta.
BLEU: This is playing two different characters—playing actors performing in a show that goes wrong. [Director] Scott Ellis had a method—we had the blue show and we had the red show. The blue show is everything that was meant to go right in Taming of the Shrew. And then everything that goes red is what we, playing the actors, what we're seeing going wrong. We had many conversations about what the blue show was and what we're supposed to be seeing while we're on stage.
STYLES: We've tracked the whole show. When they're having backstage scenes, we know which scene of Taming of the Shrew is happening on stage. They worked it out, and then we had a full day with Tanya, our Shakespeare expert.
BLEU: Yes. Shakespeare consultant.
STYLES: Or "enthusiast," something. And we just talked about The Taming of the Shrew and what it means. I've never played an actor. It’s exciting. I love musical theater so much. So getting to be on stage every night doing “Another Op’nin, Another Show” and singing, “Four weeks you rehearse and rehearse.” The other day, Scott was like, “How much rehearsal did they used to have back in the day?” And I was like, “Well, four weeks, I think!” [Laughs.] And that opening number! When Kelli O’Hara looks all at every single one of us and then takes a deep breath, and sings, “Another op’nin, another show.” I mean… I have goosebumps now! It’s perfect and it gives us all the feels.
STYLES: Yeah! [Laughs.]
BLEU: It's amazing. The best ever.
Photographer: Matthew Murphy for Broadway.com
Assistants: Evan Zimmerman and Sydney Goodwin
Styling: Jake Sokoloff
Hair and Makeup: KeLeen Snowgren
