serts34 As in the title, I've only seen one 10-minute segment, the part where Petruchio and Katharina meet each other and enter into a furious round of wordplay, but by Jove was that segment fantastic! The acting was great, pulled off so well that every moment in this commedia dell'arte production was hilarious. The wordplay was made obvious, and I am still in awe of how Petruchio can be tossing Katharine in his arms or whirling her over his head and still recite his iambic pentameter. Petruchio, played by Mark Singer, is a cocky man, but you see that he also has a more caring side to him underneath the wild antics that Mark Singer gives. Katharina is definitely easily angered, but she has a feistiness, will, and has plenty of wit. The actress chose to make Katharina's shrieking, shrewish side IMO more toned down, and it makes the character more likable. Indeed, I find myself liking her railing, her shouting and most of all her wit. The wordplay is to die for: quick, lively, and sharp as a razor. Petruchio and Katharina are the highlights, but the other people in the cast (from what I saw) also do a great job in making their characters fit into the commedia dell'arte style and making the audience laugh. Yes, this is slapstick, but slapstick done well and I'll find it difficult for someone to not like this production. Unless you have an aversion to all types of slapstick, well pulled-off or not, you'll love it. This is the most highly rated out of all the Taming of the Shrew productions from what I've seen on IMDb and Amazon, and I agree that this relatively unknown production really merits praise, even if I've only seen a small part of it.

MrPunch It was this performance that sparked my interest in Shakespeare. I don't quite know any higher compliment I can give it. I was 11 or 12 at the time, and Shakespeare was foreign to me despite being the same basic language, yet here it was, so live and real.I haven't given it 10 of 10 merely because of its slight shortcomings within the medium. This show was for a live audience, and was filmed for television, not made for television. It's simplicity is charming, though.It works. Watch this show and see what Shakespeare should be. I only wish I could have been there live to see it!ADDITIONAL NOTE: Now that I've read the other reviews, I find it fascinating that everyone has the same comment that they remember it from 20+ years ago!

TPK This ACT version of "Taming of the Shrew" is very different from most of the overproduced movies made from Shakespeare plays--in this stage production, there are no huge set pieces or elaborate props. It's reduced to actors having fun with rich, descriptive language.The trouble with a number of movies made from Shakespeare plays--say, Kenneth Branagh's schizoid, interminable "Hamlet" or Baz Luhrman's MTV-ized version of "Romeo and Juliet"--is that, being movies, they try to make the material more visual. They show, rather than tell, what is going on. As a result, Shakespeare's powerful descriptive passages are reduced, cut, or worse, blazed through as quickly as possible and shoved aside to make room for more eye candy.There's no such difficulty here. This "Shrew" is almost performed on a bare stage, in commedia dell'arte style, with minimal accoutrements and some sound effects for laughs. Everything depends on Shakespeare's rich, inventive language, and the production is the better for it.

Tamie_Kwist The San Fransisco American Conservatory Theater gives an outstanding performance in a highly acclaimed production of Taming Of The Shrew. Just watching the actors facial expressions will leave you in hysterics. Marc Singer and Freddi Olster have a beautiful chemistry as Petruchio and the impossible Kate. This is one of the best productions of any kind I've ever seen. Anyone wanting to purchase this film can get it through Amazon.com or the Broadway Theater Archive!!!