"Mrs. Porter and Mr. Parker" by Stage North at Open Book

Stage North returns, nearly a year and a half since their excellent production of the play Mauritius, with a new original musical revue all about two important artists of early 20th Century America - songwriter Cole Porter and poet/writer/critic Dorothy Parker, featuring the songs of the former and the poems and witticisms of the latter. In many ways they lived parallel lives, although they didn't seem to intersect much. Stage North's Artistic Director Peter Moore has imagined a conversation between them in some sort of afterlife where great artists go when they leave this world (sounds like a great place to spend eternity). It's funny and charming and a bit bittersweet; despite their upbeat work neither one lived a life without sorrow. And it's chock full of great songs from the American songbook, performed by six singers accompanied by a three-piece band in the intimate unamplified space at Open Book. Like in the opening song "Well, Did You Evah," it was utterly delightful to forget the awful headlines of the day for a couple hours and enjoy this swanky and entertaining party (continuing through March 29).

Mrs. Parker and Mr. Porter introduces us to these two fascinating characters in some sort of cocktail party in the afterlife. Interspersed with a couple dozen or so songs by Mr. Porter (and one by Mrs. Parker), the two discuss their lives, loves, and work. They comment on how they would have been great friends, they both lived around the same time and ran in the same artist circles, despite the fact that he was eternally optimistic and she was hilariously cynical. They trade songs and poems around the themes of the conversation, and although this isn't a biographical piece, we get a good sense of who each was as a person in addition to an artist. Cole Porter's songs are so familiar and beloved, even if you think you don't know him, because they're so much a part of our culture. So, too, have Dorothy Parker's poems and quotes made their way into our common culture (e.g., "men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses"). As she jokes in the show, if there's a famous witty quote, it's either Oscar Wilde or Dorothy Parker. And if her sharp wit, love of drinking, and career as a theater critic remind you of Mary in the musical Merrily We Roll Along, it may be because the character in the original 1934 play was inspired by her.

Mr. Porter (Jim Pounds) and Mrs. Parker
(Bonni Allen, photo courtesy of Stage North)

Bonni Allen and Jim Pounds beautifully portray Dorothy and Cole, the former bitingly funny, the latter sweetly romantic, both covering deeper feelings. They're joined by four singers (Lillian Grace Carlson, Geoff Jones, Stephen Neff, and Prudence Johnson) who don't just sing gorgeously in solos, duets, or group numbers, they also perform the emotions of each song, like a little story in itself (most of them were written for musical theater, after all). Music director Anita Ruth leads the three-piece band on keys (with Joan Griffith on guitar and bass and Terry Elliott on violin), and the sound is so great in that intimate space with no amplification. From "De-Lovely" to "Wunderbar," from "Let's Do It" to "You're the Top," each song is so clever or funny or touching, just a joy to listen to.

The show performs in the space at Open Book where Ten Thousand Things often performs, and they do it in the TTT style. Meaning - all the lights on, with just a couple rows of chairs arranged in a square. It really feels like we're at the party with these friends, as they look us right in the eye and bring us into the story. The band sits in one corner, and a table between two rich blue velvet chairs is placed in each corner where our friends lounge, drinking champagne, when not singing. The show is well staged (by director Peter Moore and choreographer Jim Lichtscheidl) with movement around the in-the-square space with a raised circular stage in the middle, with the perfect amount of movement and dancing to complement each song. In Act I the performers dressed in "black tie only," tuxes and floor length gowns, and change into something a little more casual, but no less glamorous, for Act II (set design by Rick Polenek, costume design by Jan Battles).

If you need to escape from the weariness of the world for a couple hours, and be immersed in a world of clever witticisms and beloved, familiar, classic songs gorgeously performed in an intimate space, check out the perfectly delightful Mrs. Parker and Mr. Porter.