Almost Anything Goes

In my late teens I fell in love with Cole Porter. I'd had a lot of loves before, sure...Rodgers and Hammerstein topped the list with Carousel. Jerome Kern whispered down their necks with Show Boat. I'd not needed anybody else, I'd decided. These would be loves for life. Then along came Kiss Me Kate, with the haunting melody, "So In Love," along with "Wunderbar," "Why Can't You Behave," and the hilarious "I Hate Men." I was sold. Porter had eclipsed them all.

Just a week ago at the Woodland Theatre in Kettle Falls I delighted in seeing Nancy Morrison-Christopher sing Porter's song that celebrates why men can be despicable. No, it was an all-star talent show, not a revival of Kiss Me Kate, even though Nancy wore Kate's gown that she'd donned years ago when Woodland did present this Porter classic. I believe Nancy said that was nineteen years ago...so I say it's time for a revival.

(Whoops...Nancy tells me it's the upcoming Nunsense at Woodland that she did years ago...here's what she says: "Nancy Morrison-Christopher Uh Terri.... I read the wonderful comment on your blog but....the show we did nineteen years ago was Nunsense not Kiss Me Kate ...Sister Robert Anne is the role I am reprising.  We didn't perform our Nunsense number at the variety show due to illness. We have never performed Kiss Me Kate though I would love to! Did it in HS. Thanks for the plug!" So, I say, Woodland Theatre...as much as I'm looking forward to Nunsense and next spring's Secret Garden, please, please, please do some Cole Porter!)

The blonde in the center is Nancy, as man-hating Kate!

In the meantime, I got my Porter fix last month when I attended theSegerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa with my son, where Rachel York as Reno Sweeney tap danced her way across the sea, and, as usual in a Cole musical comedy....anything goes. I was so ready for the Anything Goes, with its tap dancing, the slapstick,and even the silly gigolos!


When I was 19 my husband, Bob Elders, gave me an Ella Fitzgerald Verve-label album for Christmas...The Cole Porter Songbook. Though I long ago lost my LPs, I still listen to "All Through the Night." Ella still sings it on You Tube. When I heard it in the current production last month, I fell in love with Porter all over again. Can lyrics get any better than these? Listen to the internal rhyme in "the monotone of the evening's drone!"

The day is my enemy, the night my friend,
For I'm always so alone till the day draws to an end,
But when the sun goes down and the moon comes through,
To the monotone of the evening's drone I'm all alone with you.

All through the night,
I delight in your love,
All through the night you're so close to me!
All through the night,
From a height far above,
You and your love brings me ecstasy!

When dawn comes to waken me,
You're never there at all!
I know you've forsaken me
Till the shadows fall,
But then once again I can dream, I've the right
To be close to you all through the night.

Here's Ella singing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMdwuoXv0u4

The incomparable Ella Fitzgerald

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