Cole Porter News

Following highly successful performances at Feinstein's & The Reprise Room, RENDEZVOUS…An Evening with Piaf, Brel, Aznavour & Friends will add one additional show at The Reprise Room at Dillon's, on Thursday, April 10th at 7:30pm.

Musicals Tonight! announces the lineup of 'At This Performance..' and upcoming production of Cole Porter's 'Paris'

Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe return to the helm to put the 78-year-old Connecticut theatrical landmark back on course

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) announces its mainstage production of Cole Porter's masterpiece Kiss Me, Kate, returning to the Paper Mill Stage after a 40 year absence. Directed by Paper Mill favorite James Brennan, Kiss Me, Kate won the very first Tony Award for Best Musical in 1949 - and has been delighting audiences ever since. Kiss Me, Kate will run at the Millburn theatre from April 16 through May 18, 2008.

Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) announces that two-time Tony Award-winner, film star and Weston resident James Naughton will direct the lively song and dance revue, Hot 'n Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration!, playing June 10 - 28.

MAUDE MAGGART, the critically-acclaimed chanteuse - hailed as 'bewitching' by The New York Times, 'utterly enchanting' by the New York Post and 'stunning' by the Los Angeles Times - will return to THE OAK ROOM of THE ALGONQUIN HOTEL for a six week engagement from April 1 - May 10. Her new show, 'Speaking of Dreams,' will feature John Boswell (April 1 - 12) and Lanny Meyers (April 15 - May 10) on piano and Yair Evnine on cello and guitar. All performances are at the Oak Room (59 West 44th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues). Please call (212) 419-9331 for reservations.

Lessons in life: If you can make it here, you'll learn to make it anywhere.

Before heading to Broadway, Mark Nadler will bring his one-man comedy-in-music adventure, Russian on the Side, to the Royal George Theatre Mainstage, 1641 North Halsted Street in Chicago, for a limited eight-week engagement, April 30 - June 15, 2008. (Previews begin April 22). The official press opening is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) will stage the delicious comedy Time of My Life by Alan Ayckbourn, reuniting author, director and cast members from one of last season's biggest hits, Relatively Speaking.

Cabaret and concert star Andrea Marcovicci brings her own captivating high style to the role of the magnificent and mercurial fashion doyenne, Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel in 42nd Street Moon's upcoming production of Coco. Alan J. Lerner and Andre Previn's musical memory play - unseen anywhere since the early 1970s -- will preview April 24 and 25, open on April 26, and run through May 11.

Feinstein's at Loews Regency continues its Spring 2008 season with the two time Grammy Award winning singer Sylvia McNair from March 18 - 22.

Glimmerglass Opera has announced that Lisa Vroman will sing the role of Lilli Vanessi/Kate, and Brad Little will sing Fred Graham/Petruchio in the company's 2008 summer production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate. The production opens the Glimmerglass Opera Festival Season on July 5 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown, New York, and runs through August 23.

West End Sound of Music star Connie Fisher swapped her nun's wimple for an adjudicator's hat at the Grand Theatre, Swansea on Saturday March 1st as a member of the adjudicating panel for the 2008 Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the Year contest. During the evening Connie also made a welcome return to the stage where she was herself the 2006 winner of the contest before going on to earn stardom as the winner of the BBC's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria talent show. After being greeted by rapturous applause from the audience in her native Wales, she treated the crowd to a rendition of Cole Porter's classic tongue twister, 'The Physician' (first sung by Gertrude Lawrence in Nymph Errant in 1933). Then she returned to the score of The Sound of Music to sing 'Edelweiss', accompanied by the Dunvant Male Choir, before completing her short programme with a virtuoso rendition of Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby's 'Everybody Wants To Do A Musical' - a song from the musical Nick and Nora she had performed on the same stage the night she became the Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the year two years ago.

For her new show, Joan Curto (After Dark Award Winner for Outstanding Cabaret Artist) has chosen the songs of two stars who defined the American musical theater. 'Brassy, Sassy & Classy: The Songs of Ethel Merman and Mary Martin,' provides a showcase for Curto's classic, sultry styling and emotional versatility, at the Metropolitan Room on April 6.

Following a sold-out run this past fall at Feinstein's, Rendezvous…An Evening with Piaf, Brel, Aznavour & Friends will re-open at The Reprise Room at Dillon's on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30PM, for an extended run. Additional performances will be Thursdays, March 13 & 27 at 7:30PM.

The Town Hall, Times Square's landmark concert venue, presents KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler in A Swell Party: RSVP Cole Porter on Monday, June 9, 2008 at 8:00PM. This special musical evening event, commemorating Cole Porter's birthday, also features Loren Schoenberg.

Westport Country Playhouse (Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) has made some revisions in the previously announced 2008 season of productions. Distinguished actor and director Paul Newman will direct the Playhouse's fall production, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck; Timothy Busfield, Emmy Award-winning actor from 'The West Wing,' 'Studio 60' and 'thirtysomething,' will star in the dark comedy Vigil, launching its tri-state area premiere on February 26; and Time of My Life, a comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, reuniting author, director and cast members from one of last season's biggest hits, is newly slated for April production.