A bond with the Bard celebrated in two shows

The United States and Britain are sometimes allies in Shakespearean as well as foreign policies. Tonight on public television, two programs look at transatlantic excursions into the Bard’s work.

First up is “Kiss Me, Kate,” the classic all-American riff on “The Taming of the Shrew,” taped in a London theater. Next is “The Shakespeare Sessions,” an examination of Shakespearean acting workshops conducted by the British sage John Barton in the United States, with a starry group of American actors.

“Kiss Me, Kate,” part of “Great Performances,” is the more entertaining. This is the Tony-winning revival that was directed by Michael Blakemore. A touring version played L.A.’s Shubert Theatre in 2001, with the wonderful Rachel York, who’s also in tonight’s rendition, as Lilli Vanessi.

She’s even better in close-up than she was at the Shubert. She has movie star glamour, with high cheekbones and fiery eyes. Her voice reaches almost operatic grandeur and then reverts to a bitter bray to express actress Lilli’s disgust at her ex-husband and co-star Fred Graham.

L.A. theatergoers were disappointed that Rex Smith, instead of the Broadway company’s Tony-winning Brian Stokes Mitchell, played Fred at the Shubert. Strange to say, Mitchell isn’t in this version, either.

However, Brent Barrett’s Fred in tonight’s show is as stellar as anyone could imagine. He has the rich baritone that Smith lacked, dashing authority, a sly twinkle in the eye. He and York pull no punches in their brawls, yet they make their separate renditions of Cole Porter’s “So in Love” so entrancing.

Nancy Anderson, who sparked the Shubert stage with her second-banana role, is in this production too. Michael Berresse plays her dapper, misbehaving beau.

Some of the TV details -- a close-up of the lovers’ shadows, as they kiss at the end of “Why Can’t You Behave?” -- are a plus. But the larger dances sometimes look too cropped at the edges of the screen or distorted for the sake of reaction shots, and the stage lighting doesn’t always reproduce well on camera.

Most of “The Shakespeare Sessions” was shot in three workshops Barton conducted with American actors, but director Oren Jacoby blended the three so that the viewer gets the impression that it was all shot at a single, fruitful session.

Two of the workshops were in New York, featuring Kevin Kline and Charles S. Dutton in fairly familiar selections and an interesting duet between Lynn Collins and Peter Francis James from the less familiar “Troilus and Cressida.” Additional footage was shot in Denver, with David Hyde Pierce and Cynthia Nixon among the participants.

Barton’s guidance on making Shakespearean speech comprehensible, seconded with separately taped remarks from his frequent colleague Sir Peter Hall, sounds sensible, and he skillfully elucidates the selected passages.

But the show will be of more interest to actors than to a general audience. And in L.A., theatergoers may be a bit wary of the Barton/Hall method, for Hall’s 1999 and 2001 stagings at the Ahmanson Theatre were among the dreariest Shakespearean productions seen here in recent years.

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Musical and ‘Sessions’

What: “Kiss Me, Kate” and “The Shakespeare Sessions”

When: “Kate” at 8 p.m. on PBS, “The Shakespeare Sessions” at 10:30 p.m. on KCET

Rating for “Kate”: TV-G. “The Shakespeare Sessions,” a documentary, is unrated.