KT Sullivan: You’re the Top: A Celebration of the Finest—Cole Porter

Peter Haas | April 22, 2017

KT Sullivan

You’re the Top: A Celebration of the Finest—Cole Porter

Birdland, NYC, April 10, 2017

Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes

KT Sullivan
Photo: Maryann Lopinto

KT Sullivan has been leading a busy life. In addition to her ongoing role as Artistic Director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, she recently paired with Mark Nadler in a tribute to lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, she participated in a Sullivan family cabaret evening to celebrate the marriage of her niece, and she has been preparing for a May cruise performing with Carol Woods and Mark. More to the point for New York cabaret-goers, she took time in April for her first-ever solo engagement at Birdland: a delightful, de-lovely tribute to the songs of Cole Porter.

It was Sullivan in top form. Dressed in a tuxedo-like outfit, complete with top hat, and accompanied on stage by Musical Director Jon Weber at the piano and Steve Doyle on bass – both musicians pitching in on vocals—she brought more than a dozen Porter songs merrily to life. Diving right in, she opened with “It’s De-Lovely,” followed by: the comic “Most Gentlemen Don’t Like Love” paired with “The Physician” (“But He Never Said He Loved Me”); a tribute to the Big Apple with “I Happen to Like New York” and “Take Me Back to Manhattan”; and sweetly moving renditions of two enduring Porter romantic classics, “Begin the Beguine” and “Night and Day.”

Noting a departure from Porter’s custom of writing both a song’s music and lyrics, she performed a piece that originated when a stranger named Robert Fletcher sent a poem to Porter. In the composer’s hands, it became “Don’t Fence Me In.” A second writing partnership and a transcontinental friendship were highlighted by witty lyrics that Noël Coward contributed to “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love).” Other lovely Porter classics included “After You, Who?,” “In the Still of the Night,” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” while a revisit to Porter’s 1948 Broadway success Kiss Me, Kate featured “So in Love,” “Wunderbar” and – with the audience joining in – “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.”

Sullivan’s program ended with “Wake Up and Dream” and “Use Your Imagination,” to the audience’s warm-hearted cheers – a signal that KT Sullivan’s more frequent visits to the New York cabaret stage would be most welcome.

Tags: After You Who, Alan Jay Lerner, American Songbook, Begin the Beguine, Big Apple, Birdland, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, But He Never Said He Loved Me, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Carol Woods, CD, Clubs, Cole Porter, Composers, Don’t Fence Me In, Great American Songbook, I Happen to Like New York, I've Got You Under My Skin, In the Still of the Night, It’s De-Lovely, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, Jon Weber, Kiss Me Kate, KT Sullivan, Let’s Do It Let’s Fall in Love, lyricists, Mabel Mercer Foundation, Mark Nadler, Maryann Lopinto, Musicals, Musicians, Night and Day, Nightclubs, Noël Coward, NYC, Peter Haas, Popular Song, Revues, Robert Fletcher, Show Tunes, Singers, So in Love, Songbook, Standards, Steve Doyle, Supper Clubs, Take Me Back to Manhattan, The Physician, Use Your Imagination, Venues, Vocalists, Wake Up and Dream, Wunderbar, You’re the Top, You’re the Top: A Celebration of the Finest—Cole Porter