Opera North’s continuing foray into Broadway musicals alongside more traditional fare continues with Jo Davies’ production of Cole Porter’s masterpiece Kiss Me Kate.

The all-singing all-dancing staging at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal was fast-paced, exuded joy and was performed with panache.

The narrative, centred on conflict between the sexes both backstage and on during a showing of Taming of the Shrew. It got off to a raucous start with Another Op’nin Another Show.

Quirijn De Lang was a caddish Fred Graham, while Jeni Bern put in feisty potrayal of his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. They enjoyed a sizzling chemistry, wonderfully conveyed in their song Wunderbar. Bern’s I Hate Men as Kate, was delivered with acidic bite.Will Tuckett’s choreography in the set-pieces whirled with energy, while Tiffany

Graves’s Lois Lane and Ashley Day’s Bill Calhoun had some nifty dance moves – the latter’s tap dance routine stealing the show.

Joseph Shovelton and John Savournin pulled off their parts as the bumbling gangster debt collectors with aplomb, providing the ear worm of the evening with their catchy rendition of Brush up You Shakespeare.

Set and costume designer Colin Richmond came up trumps – the scenery switching seamlessly from a grubby backstage (complete with urinal wheeled in for the gangsters’ confrontation with Fred Graham) to a sumptuous Tudor backdrop for Taming of the Shrew.

Music from pit was meticulously researched by conductor David Charles Abell, who edited a critical edition of the score, giving the soundworld an added authenticity.

The collaboration with Welsh National Opera went down a storm.

Gavin Engelbrecht