MUSIC

BAYOU CITY CONCERT MUSICALS introduces another chapter in its ongoing cabaret series celebrating the Great American Songbook with Let’s Misbehave: The Early Cole Porter.  It is scheduled for three consecutive Monday nights, February 8th, February 15th and February 22nd at 7:30 p.m. at the Performance Centre of The Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main Street. The entrance to the Performance Centre is located on the corner of Fannin and Berry. ROB LANDES, one of the top Musical Directors in Houston, will again weave his magic on the piano and PAUL HOPE, as Master of Ceremonies and director, entertains the audience with interesting stories and little known facts about the life of Cole Porter.

COLE PORTER ranks in the top five composers of American popular music along with Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. The early music of Cole Porter, 1909 through 1929, is featured in this cabaret, with such classic hits as “Let’s Misbehave,” “Let’s Do It,” “What Is This Thing Called Love,” “You Do Something To Me,” and “You’ve Got That Thing.” He was so prolific in his composing, it is said that you could just “pick a subject or emotion,” whether it be love, anger, hate, or clever sarcasm and he would have a song for it.

Cole Porter was born on June 9, 1891 and his early life was filled with music. He wrote his first song at the age of 10 in 1901. His years at Yale were marked with success, composing fight songs that today are still Yale classics. His musical productions for Yale Dramatic Association and the Yale Glee Club were hugely popular.

The early part of his career was marked more with rejection than success and after his first musical flopped, he decided to move to Paris in 1917. Just as he was the darling of café society in the U.S., he fell into the same lifestyle in Europe, traveling and socializing with the best-known intellectuals and artists in Europe, though he did continue writing songs, sending them on to his publisher in New York. He married Linda Thomas, who served as his muse and inspiration, and wrote his first successful song, “I’m In Love Again!” in Paris in 1924. He returned to New York and Broadway in the late 1920’s.

Tickets for the cabaret are $25.00 and are available by calling 713-465-6484 or may be purchased at the door. Tickets are also available on line at bayoucityconcertmusicals.org.  Reservations are recommended.