Natalie Cole Performs Tonight at Ridgefield Playhouse

An end of summer soirée starring superstar performer and recording artist Natalie Cole, complete with wine, cheese and art...sound enticing? It's a great night out when Natalie Cole returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse tonight, August 21, at 8 p.m.

The eight-time Grammy award winner Natalie Cole continues to astonish with her vocal dexterity and intimate, knowing way with a lyric and melody. Before Natalie Cole won the 1975 Best New Artist Grammy, she appealed to fans and critics with her versatility as a pop artist offering R&B, jazz and popular songs of the first order. Her hits include "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", "Inseparable", "Our Love", "Pink Cadillac", "Miss You Like Crazy" and "I've Got Love On My Mind". When her seminal album Unforgettable...With Love came out in 1991, it set a new standard for the Great American Songbook with its title track "Unforgettable" on which she partnered with her late father, the legendary Nat "King" Cole, for a posthumous duet. The CD spent five weeks at No. 1, sold more than eight million copies in the U.S. alone and garnered six Grammys including Album and Record of the Year. A wine and cheese tasting courtesy of No. 109 Cheese & Wine and reception with a local artist will take place in the lobby from 6:30 - 7:15 p.m. This evening of jazz, wine and art is part of the Ridgefield Magazine Broadway & Cabaret Series and the No. 109 Cheese & Wine's Art, Wine & Jazz Series.

Taking a break from recording until 2009 to write an autobiography and focus on other projects, Natalie returned to the studio to make Still Unforgettable, which showcases her supple voice in 14 standards. This time she recorded "Walkin" My Baby Back Home" with her dad thanks to high-tech recording capabilities. Other classics on the album include "Nice 'N Easy", "The Best is Yet To Come" and "Come Rain or Come Shine". Every single one of these songs was a challenge to sing because the original performances are so iconic," Cole says. So she and her co-producer enlisted the A-list of arrangers including John Clayton, Patrick Williams, Nan Schwartz and Vince Vanacore, all of whom paid homage to the originals while creating something fresh and new.

For tickets ($135 orchestra, $125 mezzanine/balcony), call the box office at (203) 438-5795, or order online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT, ridgefieldplayhouse.org.