Theater: From Coalhouse to Cole

Ragtime made him a star. Now Brian Stokes Mitchell triumphs anew in Porter's Kiss Me, Kate

Even when he was a regular on the TV series Trapper John, M.D., Brian Stokes Mitchell (just Brian Mitchell then, before he added his middle name for more distinctiveness on the marquee) was a Broadway performer at heart. A film editor on the show once said he knew Mitchell must be a theater vet because he acted even when the camera wasn't on him: "You don't turn off when it's not your line."

It was good training for his starring role in the new Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate. Playing the head of an acting troupe performing The Taming...

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