In 2008, David Charles Abell was conducting Kiss Me, Kate at the Glimmerglass Festival and found “hundreds of mistakes in the score and instrumental parts,” writes Peter Dobrin in Tuesday’s (4/9) Philadelphia Inquirer. “ ‘For the standard classical repertoire, musicians can buy or rent clean, accurate, thoroughly researched scores and parts. Not so for musicals,’ said Abell…. He and [Seann] Alderking, a pianist and coach … examined the original manuscript scores of Kiss Me, Kate by [composer Cole] Porter and his piano arranger, and looked for the instrumental parts used for that original 1948 Broadway production. ‘It was like going on an archaeological dig,’ said Abell. Cole Porter fans can hear what they unearthed this weekend when Abell leads the Philly Pops in an all-Porter program that includes several songs from Kiss Me, Kate, all brushed up, by way of a new critical edition score…. ‘We found the original orchestra parts in a dusty publishers’ basement,’ said Abell, the pops’ principal guest conductor…. ‘We went to Yale and examined Cole Porter’s papers.’ … Last season, Abell conducted Mozart’s The Magic Flute for Opera Philadelphia.”
Posted April 10, 2019
