ACCLAIMED West End musical Kiss Me Kate arrives at Birmingham's Hippodrome Theatre for a two-week season from Tuesday.

The show, which originally opened on Broadway in 1948 and was an instant success, is about the "anarchic but exuberant life of a theatre company" staging a musical version of Shakespeare's Taming of The Shrew.

Packed with Cole Porter songs, the musical follows the tempestuous romance between leading characters Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, played by Craig Urbani and Julie-Alanah Brighten.

Things then get even more complicated when a couple of gangsters arrive behind the scene, determined to collect a rather large gambling debt. Special guest stars Les Dennis and Michael Greco play the gangsters for the new touring show.

Well-known as host of ITV's game show Family Fortunes, Les Dennis has starred in West End musicals Chicago and Me and My Girl as well as on TV shows such as Casualty, Merseybeat and Brookside. He has just finished filming Quest 2 for ITV, directed by David Jason.

Michael Greco first found fame as sexy womaniser Beppe di Marco in Eastenders before achieving critical success as Billy Flynn in Chicago. He has just completed a UK tour of About Alice and recently appeared in BBC's Doctors as Steve Williams.

The show is considered Cole Porter's musical masterpiece with such hits as Another Op'nin, Another Show, So in Love, Too Darn Hot, From This Moment On and the title song.

Kiss Me Kate runs until October 2 with evening performances at 7.30pm, Saturday matinees at 2.30pm and Wednesday matinees at 2pm.

Tickets, priced £10.50-£27.50, are available from the box office on 0870 730 1234 or online at www.birminghamhippodrome.com