It’s ‘A Swell Party’ Indeed

Melba Moore, dressed in a sleeveless lavender gown, strode on stage at Citrus College’s Haugh Performing Arts Center framed by a quartet of Broadway singers and a pair of grand pianos. As she turned to face the audience, she burst into a Cole Porter song, “I’m Throwing a Ball Tonight.”

Though one of Porter’s lesser-known numbers, it’s a fitting opening to the Porter theatrical revue “A Swell Party--The Cole Porter Songbook.”

During the succeeding two hours Saturday, Moore, the four other actor-singers and two pianists in the company explored some 40 of the composer-lyricist’s creations, both the familiar--”It’s De-Lovely,” “Begin the Beguine,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy”--and the not-so familiar in a show that opens tonight and runs through Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The songs are arranged by Fred Wells, who plays one of those dual grands, and cover a variety of moods and tempos, giving Moore a chance to sing and act her way through ballads, upbeat ditties and songs with blues and gospel touches. On “Blow, Gabriel, Blow,” a piece just added to the program, she shows particular range and expression, which earned her a huge ovation at the Citrus College performance.

A few days later, Moore was on her way to Houston to do a voice-over for a television ad. While waiting in the Denver airport for her connection, the 52-year-old Tony-winning Broadway actress, who has appeared in productions of “Hair, “Les Miserables” and “Purlie,” spoke by phone about her role in “A Swell Party.”

“Like most of the general public, I’ve always loved Porter,” she said. “His music so permeates the American fabric that you couldn’t escape it if you wanted to. And who would want to?”

Moore, a Grammy-nominated singer, joined the show last year during its first run, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She said she was invited late to take a role that had been written for Lucy Arnaz.

“[Producer] Jeffrey Finn knew about my work and contacted the ‘Les Miserables’ office about me in 1995,” she explained. “I was suited to what they wanted. They made it clear that it was an acting piece and that it demanded a singing style that could work inside those constraints. The show was all set and ready to go when I came on.”

She has particular enthusiasm for her five cast mates. “Everyone is highly disciplined, yet they’re fun, joyful people. We each have individuality, but . . . we mesh together nicely.”

Moore has kept consistently busy since breaking onto the stage in the original 1969 production of “Hair.” The daughter of singer Gertrude Melba Smith and bandleader Teddy Hill (manager of the fabled New York nightclub Minton’s during bebop’s heyday) sensed early on that there was something unique about her mother.

“My mother dressed differently, was more glamorous, more sophisticated and beautiful than the people I saw in the neighborhood,” she remembered. “There was something about that life that attracted me.”

Most of her musical direction, she says, came from her stepfather, Clement Moornan. “He was the one who brought music into my life and groomed me at the piano.”

Moore, who became the first African American to play Fantine when she joined “Les Miserables” in 1995, said things are different today for everyone in the theater.

“There is much more opportunity today, more openness and more tolerance for cultural differences. The entertainment business is fabulous because all’s fair here,” she said. “If you center yourself on the path you need to follow, your chances of success are unlimited.”

Moore’s next project will be a one-woman show, “Sweet Songs of the Soul,” which she is putting together herself. “It’s a real learning experience, especially the business side of it. But in this age of entrepreneurship, and the environment for doing it is encouraging. Sure, there’s up and downs, but it’s a fairyland out there. Anything is possible.”

BE THERE

“A Swell Party--The Cole Porter Songbook” with Melba Moore opens tonight at Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Also 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. $42. (714) 556-2787.