Cole Porter's 108^th birthday was last Wednesday, June 9. In a career that was 45 years long, he contributed to 36 musical reviews and plays and created a body of work that includes countless standards.

Cole Porter was born in Peru (pronounced Pea-rue), Indiana in 1891. Unlike so many composers who lived in poverty while struggling to establish themselves in American musical theatre, Cole Porter was born into wealth and also married into it. He lived a favored life that included studies in music at Yale and law at Harvard, and many years of residency in Europe with what was then known as Café Society—which we would later call the Beautiful People.

In the 1920s, as he attempted to establish a career, Cole Porter made many contributions to revues and book musicals, writing classics like "Night and Day," "Love for Sale," "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)," and many others. Finally, at the age of 43, Porter's career took off with the 1934 hit musical Anything Goes. He followed it the next year with a Moss Hart collaboration called Jubilee which included "Begin the Beguine" and "Just One of those Things." Porter began commuting back and forth between Hollywood and Broadway, and created numerous film scores, despite a devastating 1937 riding injury that essentially crippled both legs and left him in constant pain for the rest of his life.

Overture

You're the Top

"Anything Goes"
(1962 revival)

In 1934, the book musical Anything Goes—featuring Ethel Merman—ran for 420 performances. This classic song, where Reno Sweeney and Billy Crocker express their mutual admiration, shows off Porter's remarkable rhyming ability. This musical also features "All Through the Night" and "I Get a Kick Out of You."

Night and Day

The Cole Porter Songbook: Volume 2

Ella Fitzgerald

From the 1932 musical Gay Divorce which was renamed and filmed as The Gay Divorcée in 1934, featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Fred Astaire stretched his limited vocal range and helped make a hit out of "Night and Day," which has since become a standard.

Too Darn Hot

"Kiss Me Kate"
(OC 1948)

In 1948, Kiss Me Kate ran for 1,077 performances. A clever structure featuring a play-within-a-play, this tune is placed in the alley outside the theatre, where one of the dressers is trying to cool off with some friends prior to the invention of air conditioning. Other popular hits from this show include "Why Can't You Behave" and "So in Love."

I Love Paris

"Can-Can"
(OC 1953)

Lilo

In 1953, Can-Can ran for 892 performances and made a star out of Gwen Verdon. Other hits include "I Am in Love" and "It's All Right with Me." La Mome Pistache sings this song alone on the roof of her nightclub. The role was originally offered to Carol Channing, but she was unavailable.

Ev'ry Time We Say Good-Bye

Annie Lennox

Originally from Seven Lively Arts, a not-so-successful 1944 revue produced by Billy Rose. Dedicated to the late Nel Reinke of Austin, Texas, who passed away this weekend.

New Line Theatre closes its eighth season with Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, running through June 26. Performances take place at 8 PM Thursdays through Saturdays at the St. Marcus Theatre, 2102 Russell. (772-9248)

I Know Things Now

Into the Woods (OC 1987)

Danielle Ferland

What Red learned from her encounter with the wolf, now deceased.

So Happy (Act I finale)

Company

The happy ending - except it's only the end of Act I.

Finale: Children Will Listen

Company

The characters - those that aren't dead - unite at the end to share what they've learned in the woods.

The Curtain Call Players of the West County YMCA present Hello Dolly, at 8 PM Friday and Saturday [June 18,19] on the outdoor stage at Faust Park in Chesterfield. Call 532-3100 for tickets. Be sure to bring your lawn chair or blanket for lawn seating. (also June 25-27 at Chesterfield Community Theatre)

Put on Your Sunday Clothes

Hello, Dolly! (OC 1964)

Charles Nelson Reilly, Jerry Dodge, Carol Channing, Igors Gavon, Company

So Long, Dearie

Hello, Dolly! (Revival Cast, 1967)

Pearl Bailey

Fed of with Vandergelder's pomposity and mean-spiritedness, Dolly tells him where to get off. This production featured an all-black cast including Cab Calloway as Vandergelder

Motherhood

Hello, Dolly! (Revival Cast, 1994)

Carol Channing

Dolly distracts Mr. Vandergelder's attention while Barnaby and Cornelius make their escape from Mrs. Molloy's millenry store. This is evidence of why Channing shouldn't have appeared in this revival. The show toured prior to its Broadway premiere, where it ran only a few months.