By Bart Greenberg***The Green Room 42 from time to time presents multi-performer evenings based around a specific theme. The most recent was I Get a Kick Out of Cole Porter, a jazzy salute to the great Broadway songwriter. Produced by Grant Spaar, in association with Cre
ative Director Analise Levesque who also served as music arranger and on-stage pianist. A varied cast of 17 young performers offered up 18 songs in a fast-moving evening smoothly performed. While the emphasis was on jazz, there were many genres explored during the evening, including several emphasizing Porter’s beloved Latin rhythms. While not all of the adaptations were successful (the composer’s ballads don’t really respond to hard driving jazz treatments), there were many pleasures to be derived during the evening.
Rachel Sander, reminiscent of a young Cass Elliot, really dug into the bawdiness of the musical in
vitation “Let’s Misbehave” with a big band beat backing her up. “I Get a Kick Out of You” was treated to a true jazz rendition by Meg Gallo, complete with some skilled scatting, which lost a good deal of the song’s meaning. A smooth and sexy “I Love Paris” was delivered byRachel Munoz with plenty of continental attitude. A surprisingly effective hot jazz version of “In the Still of the Night,” filled with charm and scatting, came from Sophia Montoya-Suson. A very fast and expressive “What Is This Thing Called Love?” featured Morgan Higgins, who brought an adult perspective to the question.
One of the happy surprises of the evening was Sasha Lee Andrews, who resembles the gamine Audrey Hepburn, who provided a winsome interpretation of “Love for Sale,” which grew in despair as she continued. After this highlight ca
me one of the low points of the night: due to a last minute cancellation Levesque had to step in to join Blake Gioviti for the only duet of the evening with “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” It was simply under-rehearsed and awkward. The first of several Latin rhythms came with “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” as Sophie Smith-Brody relaxed into the eroticism of the number. For something very different, Levesque led her incredibly talented quartet in an instrumental jazz rendition of “All of You.” Marcellis Cutler brought presence and electricity, as well as confident moves, to “Just One of Those Things.”
“Miss Otis Regrets” was the only straight-forward comedy number of the evening (a few more would have been welcome), and Hannah Feldstein totally nailed it with perfect timing. The only musical arrangement of the evening not created by Levesque was Harper Xu’s “Night and Day.” As a singer, she 
brought a silvery soprano to the tune; as an arranger she demonstrated a fine knowledge of the style of Nelson Riddle. Producer Sparr essayed a jazz waltz version of “All Through the Night,” benefiting from his boy-next-door looks and skill as an actor. The good-looking Ellis Gage clearly had a knowledge of the style of the early ‘60s pop idols, crooning “Every Time We Say Goodbye” as the ballad was intended to be. Patrick Mizzoni burst onto the stage to announce “Cole Porter was gay!” before launching into a very theatrical “You’re the Top.”
Two top-flight belters were separated by Swetha Vissapragada demonstrating impressive breath control, rattling off the alliterative lyrics of “It’s De-Delovely” with nary a pause, and yet with notable clarity. She was preceded by Hannah Taylor whose clarion voice rattled the walls as she dug into the gospel “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” and followed by Lussi Pearl who assured us that in Cole Porter’s world, “Anything Goes!” with not just power and sexiness, but even a burst of tap dancing to bring the evening to a close.
Photos by Bart Greenberg
