Cole Porter Story Sings Despite Lack of His Music

Imagine a musical biography of Cole Porter, one of the foremost pop songwriters of this century, without a bit of one of his songs. Such is the case with “The Gentleman Cole,” now playing at Cal Lutheran University.

Playwrights Lou Genevrino and Dick DeBenedictis chronicle Porter’s life from roughly prep-school age into his young adulthood. The several new songs were written by DeBenedictis with, to be fair, many of the same notes Porter used in his own compositions.

Is this a case of misguided ego at work or an inability to license the rights to authentic Porter material?

Whichever, it sort of works: The play ends before Porter had written any of his recognizable songs, so they wouldn’t be appropriate in any case. And the songs by DeBenedictis, who is best-known for scoring such television series as “Matlock,” “Perry Mason” (the more recent edition) and “Diagnosis, Murder,” are tuneful and carry the action along.

Born to a wealthy Indiana family, Porter attended Yale and spent time in Europe before returning to New York and setting about seriously promoting his songs; it’s those early years that are covered in this episodic, evidently largely true, script.

Along the way, we meet such real-life characters as Monty Woolley (played by director Kevin P. Kern), Clifton Webb (Adam Miller), Elsa Maxwell (Deanna Lynn Milsap) and Josephine Baker (Monica Jones), as well as Porter’s socialite wife, Linda (Lisa Wall-Urgero). It’s a marriage of mutual convenience; the script doesn’t closet Porter’s homosexuality.

The closest we get to Porter’s songs are hints in the dialogue: talking about a rough trade bar where “Anything Goes,” for instance; or revealing that “I get no kick from champagne.” An aside in which he objects to the old show-biz toast to “break a leg” will be lost on anyone who doesn’t know that Porter much later lost the use of both legs in a riding accident. For that matter, who in a college-age audience will know who Woolley, Webb and Maxwell were?

The large cast--featuring Danny Trippett as Porter and Dale Adrion, Angela Claros and Dominick Morra as his family--is quite good (though it’s been a while since many of them have been to college), and the prerecorded score is just fine, if you like prerecorded scores. Nathan Black and Dana Shaw add disproportionate humor in a couple of minor roles.

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DETAILS

“The Gentleman Cole” concludes this weekend at Cal Lutheran University’s Preus-Brandt Forum, 60 West Olsen Road (near the chapel) in Thousand Oaks. Performances are tonight-Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets to all shows are $8; free with CLU ID. For reservations or further information, call 493-3415.

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By sheer coincidence, Porter pops up again as the composer of the Ventura College Opera Workshop’s current production, the 1948 “Kiss Me Kate.”

A big hit in its day, the show has faded a bit (mainly the topical references and some of the language) but the basic story of battling ex-spouses performing a musical version of “The Taming of the Shrew” is still dandy, and playwrights Sam and Bella Spewack have included lots of Shakespeare’s dialogue.

It’s an ambitious production, with 23 cast members and a 28-piece orchestra (very capable under musical director Burns Taft).

The singers--featuring David Hodgson as Petruchio, Rebecca Hanes Pillsbury as Kate and Shelley Packham as Bianca--are well above average for a college production, though it’s disorienting to see them wearing headset microphones; it’s as if the play were being performed by the Judds and Garth Brooks or the cast of “Bells Are Ringing.” Don’t they teach projection to opera students anymore?

Karen Sonnenschein and Paul Williams are especially amusing as a couple of modern (well, ‘40s) hoods who become involved in the action.

Sean Moran makes a welcome return to the local scene as director (he was responsible for many fine Cabrillo Music Theatre productions), and Erin Young is the choreographer.

Saturday’s show was nearly sold out, a remarkable contrast to most Ventura College productions. And it must be nice for most of these actors, like those in “The Gentleman Cole,” to be on a college campus once again.

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DETAILS

“Kiss Me Kate” concludes this weekend at the Ventura College Auditorium on Loma Vista Road between Ashwood and Day Road in Ventura. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets to all shows are $18; $15 seniors; $12 students. On Saturday, a 2:30 p.m. matinee (with piano only) will be presented for $5 a ticket. For reservations or more information, call 654-6459.

Todd Everett can be reached at teverett@concentric.net.