Chicago's Porchlight Revisits Polishes Porter's Musical Gem

For decades, Cole Porter was the toast of Broadway.  With successful shows such as Kiss Me Kate, Anything Goes, and Silk Stockings along with constant flow of hit songs cascading off his keyboard, just having Porter’s name on the marquis was a producer’s dream.  At the urging of producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, Porter agreed to pen the score for a show set in Montmartre in the 1890s.  Written towards the end of his career, Can-Can was Porter’s “poke-in-the-eye” to the censors he felt were holding Broadway back. 

With its latest production in its Porchlight Revisits series, Porchlight Music Theatre brings Can-Can, Porter’s irreverent homage to the wicked revelry of Montmartre to Chicago’s Gold Coast’s Ruth Page Center for the Arts for three high kicking performances.  Beginning its fifth year, this special series provides an opportunity for music theatre aficionados to experience musicals that opened on Broadway, but are no longer frequently produced. 

Set in Paris in 1893, Can-Can is the story of Pistache, a Montmartre café owner who decides to feature the then-scandalous and illicit dance, the Can-Can, on the stage of her establishment.  Meanwhile, Aristide Forestier, a young, newly-appointed and over-zealous magistrate, decides to undertake a reform movement and sets his sights to clean up Paris, starting with a prohibition of the titillating dance.  Pistache’s defiance of the law mixes with love, music and dance in this musical classic which New York Times Ben Brantley wrote “made Gwen Verdon a star.”

With music and lyrics by Porter and a book by Abe Burrows (who also directed), the original Broadway opened at the Shubert Theatre on May 7, 1953 and ran for over two years.  A successful West End production opened the following year, running 394 performances.  Gwen Verdon, in only her second Broadway role, and choreographer Michael Kidd won Tony Awards and were praised, but both the score and book received tepid reviews.  No matter.  The public paid little attention to the critic’s opinions.  The show quickly sold out for months ahead.  Audiences filled the Shubert Theatre for 892 performances, making Can-Can run second only to Kiss Me Kate among Porter’s many hits.

Tony Carter as Hiliaire and Kelly Vasquez as Pistache
Photo by Austin Packard

The cast of Porchlight Revisits Can-Can includes Keely Vasquez “Pistache”; Devin DeSantis. “Aristide”; Kayla Boye, “Claudine”; Nik Kmiecik, “Boris”; Laz Estrada, “Theophile”; Tony Carter, “Hilaire”; Ariel Triunfro, “Featured Ensemble”; Mollyanne Nunn, “Featured Ensemble”; Liz Conway, “Featured Ensemble”; Maya Kitayama, “Featured Ensemble”; Parker Guidry, “Etienne”; Isaiah Silvia-Chandley, “Featured Ensemble/Assistant Choreographer”; and David Girolmo, “Judge Paul Barriere”.  The production team includes Adrian Abel Azevedo, Director; Shanna VanDenwerker, Choreographer; Linda Madonia, Music Director; Casey Wood, Costume Designer; Rachel West, Lighting Designer; Jamie Davis, Sound Designer; and Kaitlin Moser, Stage Manager.

The evening began with Behind the Show Backstage, an entertaining and informative multi-media presentation created and hosted by Porchlight Artistic Director, Michael Weber.  Weber discussed what was going on in the world at the time Can-Can opened the original Broadway production ($.25/gallon gasoline, $4,000 houses,).  He also shared stories about the show’s creative process (Burrows had no experience with the Montmartre lifestyle, something the book suffers) and asked that someone else pen the book.  He was refused.  The original Broadway production opened in competition with such established shows as The King and I, Guys and Dolls, and Pal Joey.  Weber also revealed how the Can-Can’s leading lady was none too happy when the opening night audience refused to stop their applause until Gwen Verdon, who played Claudine, returned to the stage in her bathrobe for a bow.  Lilo, the Parisian cabaret singer who played Pistache, insisted Verdon’s part be downsized to a few lines and a dance or two.  In what she later referred to as “the battle of Verdon”, Lilo stated “the leading lady should be the star.”  Weber’s presentation set the stage nicely for the musical performance to follow.

Working within the physical constraints of an existing set and lights can be a logistical nightmare.  However, the Porchlight Revisits cast and crew were up to the task.  Through the creative use of swinging doors and projections, Director Azevedo and choreographer VanDerwerker made the stage set work.  I especially appreciated the nice homage to original designer Jo Mielzner’s iconic rooftop view of the City of Lights as it awakens to a new day

 

The Ensemble Cast of Porchlight Revisits Can-Can
Photo by Austin Packard

The second act felt stronger than the first as the cast appeared to settle more into working through what is admittedly not Porter’s best score.  The show continued to build on the energy from act two opener “Never, Never Be an Artist” and carried through the eleven o’clock number, “I Love Paris” and the finale “Can-Can”.  As the stage filled with a growing number of brightly colored chorus girls dancing what the Paris establishment considered scandalous, the audience at the Ruth Page clapped along their support. 

This was my first Porchlight Revisits production.  This series is a great tribute to musical theater shows past.  I look forward to future productions, including their upcoming production of Minnie’s Boys, a musical about the Marx Brothers scheduled for May 22-23, 2019.  To learn more about Porchlight Revisits, including showtimes and ticket availability, visit www.porchlighmusictheatre.org or calling 773-777-9884.