Marc Kudisch & Kerry O'Malley Lead Commonwealth Shakespeare & Landmarks' KISS ME, KATE Concert Tonight

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Boston Landmarks Orchestra will present a concert version of Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate with Broadway's Marc Kudisch* as FrEd Graham/Patruchio and Kerry O'Malley* as Lilli Vanessi/Katherine. Steven Maler, Founding Artistic Director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and Associate Artistic Director, Adam Sanders, will direct with Boston Landmark Orchestra's Music Director Christopher Wilkins, conducting. The free event will be held tonight, August 21st at 7:00PM at DCR's Hatch Shell on the Esplanade.

Security entrances will open to the public at 5 pm. The rain location is The Back Bay Events Center, 180 Berkley Street in Boston. To learn more, visit www.commshakes.org or www.landmarksorchestra.org. For weather alerts: Call 617-987-2000 or Text Landmarks to 27138.

Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate is a mix of an on-stage Taming of the Shrew and a backstage Smash. It's easy to see why this enduring love story was the first ever winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical. One hit song follows another including: "Wunderbar," "So In Love," "Why Can't You Behave," "Too Darn Hot", and "From This Moment On." Kiss Me, Kate music and lyrics by Cole Porter, and book by Sam and Bella Spewack.

"After last year's extraordinarily successful collaboration at the Hatch Shell between the Landmarks Orchestra and Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, we are delighted to move into new territory for us both, a musical comedy no less. We hope you will "Brush Up Our Shakespeare" on August 21, said Jeff Makholm, Chairperson of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

Other cast includes Jake Berger (Harry Trevor/Baptista), McCaela Donovan* (Lois Lane/Bianca), Jake Novak (Ralph/Ensemble), Sara Schoch (Hattie), Joe Aaron Reid* (Paul), Andrew Burnap(Bill Calhoun/Lucentio), Brian Robinson* (First Man/Gangster), Bryan Miner* (Gremio/Ensemble), Andrew Frank (Hortensio/Ensemble), Aubin Wise (Ensemble), Lenni Kmiec (Ensemble), Ceit Zweil (Ensemble), and Yael Rizowy (Ensemble).

Marc Kudisch* (FrEd Graham/Patruchio) Three-time Tony Award Nominee, four-time Drama Desk Nominee, and two-time Outer Critics Circle Award Nominee, Marc Kudisch's Broadway credits include 9 to 5 (Franklin Hart), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Baron Bomburst), The Apple Tree (Roundabout Theatre), Assassins (The Proprietor, Roundabout Theatre), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Trevor Graydon), Bells are Ringing (Jeff Moss), LaChiusa's The Wild Party (Jackie - Public Theater), The Scarlet Pimpernel (Chauvelin), High Society (George Kittredge), Disney's Beauty & The Beast(Gaston) and Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Reuben). His recent performances Off-Broadway include The Holiday Guys (co-creator) at The York Theatre, The Blue Flower at Second Stage, A Minister's Wife and The Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center, The Pirates of Penzance and A Little Night Music at New York City Opera, Girl Crazy and No Strings at Encores!. Recent Regional credits include Hamlet at Yale Rep; Tartuffe at Westport Playhouse; Terrence McNallys new play Golden Age at the Kennedy Center (Helen Hayes award nom.); Sycamore Trees (Helen Hayes award), The Highest Yellow (Helen Hayes nom.), The Witches of Eastwick (Helen Hayes award) all for the Signature Theatre DC; A Little Night Music at LA Opera. Film and television: Gossip Girl (guest star), Blue Bloods (guest star), Smash (guest star), Sex and the City (guest star), Bye Bye Birdie (Conrad) ABC TV, Break In (Val) for Lifetime, All My Children (ABC). As a director, Mr. Kudisch has directed 3 Broadway By The Year concerts for Town Hall in NYC and Neil Berg's Phantoms of the Opera for Texas A&M Performing Arts Hall. As a writer, Mr. Kudisch co-created and co-starred with Jeff Denman as The Holiday Guys for The York Theatre in NYC, and will be premiering his new show Back to Baritone at ArtsEmerson this fall in Boston.

Kerry O'Malley* (Lilli Vanessi/Katherine): Broadway: White Christmas (Broadway Original Cast, First National Tour), On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Into the Woods 2002 revival, Billy Elliot,Annie Get Your Gun, Cyrano, Translations. Off-Broadway: Promises, Promises (Encores!), How I Learned to Drive (original cast), Dublin Carol, Finian's Rainbow (Irish Rep), Flight, Bright Lights Big City, Over the River and Through the Woods. TV: Those Who Kill (pilot), Brotherhood (recurring), Shameless (recurring), Boardwalk Empire (recurring), 666 Park Ave., The Mentalist, Harry's Law,Hart of Dixie (recurring), Detroit 187, Cold Case, Past Life, King of Queens, My Name is Earl, Kidnapped, Charmed, Without a Trace, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: LA,Brooklyn South, Monk. Film: Side Effects, Certainty, Case 39, The Happening, Rounders, The Flying Scissors, That Thing With The Cat, Echo. New York's Town Hall: Broadway by the Year 1966, 1947, 1924, 1931, 1987, Broadway Originals, Best of Broadway by the Year. Kerry will play series regular Dr. Mia Vogel in the upcoming A&E drama Those Who Kill, starring Chloë Sevigny. She is a native of Nashua, NH and a huge Boston sports fan. www.kerryomalley.net

*Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (www.commshakes.org), best known for its annual free performances on Boston Common, is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 dedicated to bringing the works of William Shakespeare in vital and contemporary productions to the people of Boston and to educating Boston's youth not only about Shakespeare but about their own potential for creativity. In addition to the annual Boston Common productions, CSC presents a summer "Tour of the Parks" program that tours Shakespeare-inspired programming designed for families to Boston neighborhood parks. Throughout the year, CSC regularly performs as a part of First Night Boston and also presents a free series called American Voices featuring script-in-hand readings of classic American plays. CSC fulfills its educational mission through its Summer Academy with programs for both high school students and pre-professional actors and throughout the year by partnering with area high schools and Boys and Girls Clubs to provide in- and after-school theatre training to inner-city youth. Recent productions include Coriolanus, All's Well That Ends Well (2012 Elliot Norton Award-winner for Best Production, Large Theater), Othello and The Comedy of Errors.