"A bit of a rum do," an opera director remarked to me in the interval; and that was exactly how I felt about this semi-staged version of the 1948 Cole Porter musical, with book by Sam and Bella Spewack, in which The Taming of the Shrew is interwoven with a backstage husband-and-ex-wife row. It is very well sung and played, but I'd have been just as happy with a concert version of Porter's delicious score.
The first problem is that the John Wilson Orchestra – here with 45 members as opposed to the 79 we heard in the Broadway Sound Prom in 2012 – is pushed to the rear of the extended Albert Hall stage: the playing, especially among the strings, is first-rate, but the main focus is on the fully costumed, foreground action. I don't doubt the commitment of director Shaun Kerrison or choreographer Alistair David, but, within the time available, it is not possible to match the molten ensemble style of a stage production: to take a classic example, a number like Too Darn Hot never grows out of the torpor and sexual angst of a sweltering backstage night as it did in the Trevor Nunn and Michael Blakemore revivals.
The bonus is that the principal roles, both played by American artistes, are vividly done. Ben Davis is all macho swagger as the bullying manager playing Petruchio and gets full value out of the innuendo of lines like "lovely Lisa … you gave a new meaning to the leaning tow'r of Pisa." Alexandra Silber matches him blow for blow as Kate, bringing a feral ferocity to I Hate Men and even invests the climbdown of both Shakespeare's heroine and the hero's ex with a certain dignity. Louise Dearman as Bianca puts across her big number, Always True to You in My Fashion, with panache; Tony Yazbeck taps stylishly as her beau; and James Doherty and Michael Jibson inevitably clean up with Brush Up Your Shakespeare: in a nice touch, they even affect to be lost in the Albert Hall, claiming, "I feel like I'm inside of a birthday cake."
It was all rapturously received by the audience, but I remain uneasy about the form. I went to hear the great John Wilson Orchestra, but felt they took second place to a modest production of a Broadway classic: semi-staged leaves me semi-detached.
• The Proms continue until 13 September. Details: bbc.co.uk/proms
