Featuring a modern, multi-media presentation of some of Porter's most beloved songs in an unprecedented and unique way, Connick will delight audiences with his signature style that has been called by The New York Times "blatantly seductive", while celebrating the life's work of a legend's significant contribution to the Great American Songbook.
At its frequent best, Harry Connick Jr.: A Celebration of Cole Porter, opening tonight at the Nederlander Theatre, pairs Porter's songwriting genius with Connick's superb musicianship, supple, ear-pleasing vocals and a brash confidence that pushes the music from the comfort of classic pop into bolder, jazzier terrain. Connick, with his years on American Idol, movie screens and concert stages, is certainly the most popular interpreter of American standards, and he takes fine advantage of that good will, unafraid to slip in an occasional dissonance or to slow down a vocal like a train creeping to its halt. Where Connick leads, his audience knows to follow.
Now, don't expect the affable Connick to just plop down at the piano and sing. He certainly plays-at a grand piano and, at one point, on a variety of uprights. But at this point in his career, Connick is as much a performer as he is a musician-albeit one who did all the arrangements and orchestrations for every song in this show, thank you very much. And this certainly isn't his first Broadway rodeo. (Counting his two previous concert stints, in 1990 and 2010, it's his fifth; I'm not including 2001's Thou Shalt Not, for which he wrote the music and lyrics but in which he didn't star.) The man who headlined The Pajama Game and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is going to bring a little personality to the proceedings-particularly if he's crooning moody numbers such as 'Love for Sale,' where he's accompanied beautifully by bassist Neal Caine, and 'Mind If I Make Love to You?' Connick calls the latter-originated by Frank Sinatra in the 1956 film of High Society-his favorite Porter song.
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