“American Songbook: An Evening of Cole Porter" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- September 23.
Saturday, September 23, 7 p.m.
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
Boasting unforgettable show tunes rom the musicals Kiss Me, Kate and Anything Goes, as well as numerous other songs recognizes as 20th-century classics, the concert event American Songbook: An Evening of Cole Porter will be held at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts on September 23, the event's beloved numbers including 'I Got You Under My Skin," "De-Lovely," "Begin the Beguine," and "I Get A Kick Out Of You."
Born to a wealthy Indiana family in 1891, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. A classically trained musician who learned the violin at age six, the piano at eight, and wrote his first operetta (with help from his mother) at 10, he was eventually drawn to the art of musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, Porter was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, however, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain. Yet he continued to work, and while his shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, he made a triumphant comeback in 1948 with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate, which went on to win the first-ever Tony Award for Best Musical.
Porter's other musicals include Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady, Can-Can, Silk Stockings, and perhaps his most famous accomplishment Anything Goes, the 1934 smash that has thus far enjoyed two Broadway revivals, both of which won Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical. Porter's numerous hit songs, meanwhile, include "Night and Day," "Begin the Beguine," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Well, Did You Evah!", "I've Got You Under My Skin," "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "Friendship," and "You're the Top." Prior to his 1964 passing, Porter also composed scores for films from the 1930s to the 1950s, including 1936's Born to Dance, which featured the song "You'd Be So Easy to Love"; 1937's Rosalie, which boasted "In the Still of the Night"; 1956's High Society a showcase for "True Love"; and 1957's Les Girls.
According to Josh Sazon, one of the event’s directors, “My first exposure to the Great American Songbook was through the fabulously urbane songs of Cole Porter, so I’m terribly excited with the opportunity to re-acquaint myself with his works. It is a pleasure and a privilege to work on this material with such talented collaborators.” Co-director Wes Habley adds, “I could not pass up this opportunity. The big band sound combined with the witty lyrics and catchy melodies of Cole Porter are the recipe for a memorable evening of entertainment.” The evening also celebrates the dedication of the CCPA’s Orchestra Pit in honor of Dr. Edward Kottick, who conducted for nearly 75 years, 55 of which were in the Iowa City area.
With the CCPA Big Band alongside the talents of vocalists Joe Bauer, Katelyn Halverson, and Marcia Hughes, American Songbook: An Evening of Cole Porter will be presented on September 23, with admission to the 7 p.m. concert $10-20. For more information and tickets, call (319)248-9370 and visit CoralvilleArts.org.
