Diane and I decided it was time to attend an actual, live performance so we chose this local theater production of Love, Linda: The Life of Mrs. Cole Porter at the MiscialFare Theater starring the talented Debbie Pappas who carries the one-woman show with grace and style. And, there was only a small audience of 60 people, all vaccinated.
As you might suspect, a marriage to a gay man in the early 20th Century was fraught with problems. Pappas explains why her marriage to Cole Porter–with its ups and downs–thrilled her. When she sings those classic Cole Porter songs, she captures the emotions of that stage in her story. If Love, Linda shows up in your neighborhood, I highly recommend you see it! Are you a Cole Porter fan? GRADE: A
SET LIST:
| 1. | “Opening: When A Woman’s In Love (Theme)/So In Love/What Is This Thing Called Love?“ | Cole Porter | 5:58 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2. | “Ours” | Cole Porter | 2:25 |
| 3. | “I Love Paris“ | Cole Porter | 3:58 |
| 4. | “Miss Otis Regrets“ | Cole Porter | 2:14 |
| 5. | “The Scampi” | Cole Porter | 2:33 |
| 6. | “In the Still of the Night“ | Cole Porter | 3:49 |
| 7. | “Ours (Reprise)” | Cole Porter | 1:18 |
| 8. | “Medley” | Cole Porter | 2:28 |
| 9. | “Let’s Be Buddies” | Cole Porter | 2:18 |
| 10. | “Ridin’ High“ | Cole Porter | 3:04 |
| 11. | “Love for Sale“ | Cole Porter | 2:38 |
| 12. | “My Heart Belongs to Daddy“ | Cole Porter | 2:55 |
| 13. | “Throwing A Ball Tonight” | Cole Porter | 3:15 |
| 14. | “Night And Day/There’s A Hollywood That’s Good“ | Cole Porter | 1:27 |
| 15. | “Wunderbar“ | Cole Porter | 2:36 |
| 16. | “When A Woman’s in Love” | Cole Porter |
I love his songs—one of my favorite albums is Ella Fitzgerald singing the Cole Porter songbook. However, I imagine a marriage to a closeted gay man (who basically married you for your money) wasn’t the easiest thing to handle, regardless of how much money you have.
Deb, Linda–Cole Porter’s wife in this musical–claims Cole Porter loved her and “satisfied” her when she wanted it. I don’t know if that was the real case, but the actress sold it to our audience.
Enjoyed DE-LOVELY quite a lot, and I’ll look for this one.
Dan, after enjoying LOVE, LINDA Diane and I want to watch DE-LOVELY again.
Yes, of course. I remember the whitewashed movie NIGHT AND DAY with Cary Grant, with Alexis Smith as Linda, which did not have a single word about him trawling for rough trade. They did a better job with Kevin Kline in DE-LOVELY (with Ashley Judd as Linda).
I remember Stephen Sondheim’s book about lyricists in which he characterized Porter as a “list maker” – as in “Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it” and “You’re the top, You’re Mahatma Gandhi. You’re the top, you’re Napolean brandy.”
Of the 16 songs listed, “Night and Day” is probably my favorite. Other Porter songs I like: “Anything Goes” (another list song), “I Get a Kick Out of You” (ditto), “Just One of Those Things,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (maybe my favorite of his songs).
Jackie always says she doesn’t like one man (or one woman) shows, but we’ve seen many over the years and liked most of them, back to Roy Dotrice as John Aubrey in BRIEF LIVES. The most recent was Renee Taylor in MY LIFE ON A DIET.
Jeff, Diane and I have seen a number of one-person shows over the years (but not has many as you and Jackie!) and generally enjoyed them. I think carrying a show by being the only actor in it would be extremely stressful!
I know. Many (most?) of them were written or co-written by the performer. A few that were particularly memorable for one reason or another:
Phyllis Newman, The Madwoman of Central Park West – very entertaining. She did a medley of songs – making fun of – the whole Big strong man/small weak woman theme, like “You Are Woman” (I am Man) from FUNNY GIRL.
Judy Gold, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. The comedian talks about her life, motherhood, religion, etc.
Lily Tomlin, The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe. Brilliant and hilarious.
Colman Domingo, A Boy and His Soul – autobiographical play about growing up in Philadelphia
Carrie Fisher, Wishful Drinking – totally hilarious about her father’s predilection for Chinese women
Anna Deveare Smith, Let Me Down Easy
Jeff, I would have loved to have seen Phyllis Newman–one of my favorites!–in THE MADWOMAN OF Central Park WEST!
Love his music. I don’t mind the lists because they are clever ones.
Patti, same here. I really wasn’t thinking about the lists in Porter’s songs until Jeff Meyerson mentioned Sondheim’s comment.
I choose, as always, on the art, not the artist, and the songs are wonderful. His personal life is none of my – or anyone else’s – business. I have the multiple CD set of Ella singing the American Songbook and it’s great. BTW, thx for the CDs, George, though many were dups.
Rick, I hope you enjoy the CDs that weren’t dups.
This is right up my alley, George.
I haven’t attended a live performance of anything yet.
My Rep tickets from last year were rolled over to this year. The season starts in October. I’ll have to let you know how it goes.
Beth, we’re in the same boat with our SHEA’S PERFORMING ARTS package. It got rolled over and we’re supposed to see FROZEN in September. We’ll see how it goes.
BLAZING SADDLES was repeated on Sundance Channel yesterday, riddled with censored bits (foolishly on cable…the last time I watched it through was on the CBC a decade ago, without censorship), and was happy to catch the Cleavon Little et al. version of “I Get a Kick Out of You” in the early going.
Difficult to pick a favorite. Not know much about Ms. Porter or their relation, I wondered if they were mutual beards. Apparently not.
Todd, Linda Porter’s first husband abused her.
Ugh. Well. whatever Porter could do for her probably felt better after that.
Todd, exactly.